The Russian judge who convicted the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has said the trial was short because it did not examine any “material evidence” and the verdict did not take long because he could “type quickly”.

“The case itself was small. I don’t remember how many folders there were – three or five,” said Andrei Mineyev, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

“Why did it go so quickly? The point is the court did not examine material evidence,” Mineyev said, adding that this was because neither the prosecution nor the defence had requested it.