Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Hershkovich, arrested by Russia in late March on charges of spying for Washington, appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday after challenging the move and asking to be released pending trial, but that request was denied. court, The Guardian and Sky News report.

The Wall Street Journal correspondent was kept in a box with Plexiglas walls, which is standard procedure in Russian courts. During the court session, he took a picture sitting with his arms crossed and remained silent.

Max Seddon, the FT’s Moscow bureau chief, posted an image from the court on Twitter, noting that “journalists are allowed to take pictures and video of Evan. [Gershkovich] into the cage, but not to talk to him. He can’t tell them anything either.”

The journalist asked to replace preventive arrest with house arrest, but his request was rejected.

Evan Hershkovich, whose parents fled the Soviet Union in 1979, was detained by the FSB on March 29 in a Yekaterinburg restaurant. He was transferred to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which was used by the KGB during the Soviet Union and is now a place where FSB suspects accused of espionage or other serious crimes are held.

Evan Hershkovich is the first American journalist accused of espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War.

The Kremlin claims that Hershkovich was spying under the guise of a journalist, but the Wall Street Journal, for which he works, denies that Hershkovich was involved in such activities. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the journalist was “caught red-handed” while trying to obtain classified information.

US Ambassador to Moscow Lynn Tracy said on Monday that she visited Hershkovich in prison. “It’s good and lasts. We reiterate our call for Evan’s immediate release,” the ambassador said. Actually, she was also present on Tuesday in the court, where the journalist was brought.