Russian prosecutors are demanding an 18-year prison term for US journalist Evan Gershkovich, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday, as the espionage trial of the Wall Street Journal reporter entered its final phase. The prosecution considers the allegations made in the closed-door proceedings, which opened in Yekaterinburg on June 26, to have been proven beyond a doubt. A guilty verdict – considered a certainty – could come later on Friday. Press freedom advocates, media outlets around the globe, and the US government have condemned Russia’s prosecution of Gershkovich as a sham and deman…