The Russian Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, August 30 requested 24 years in prison for investigative journalist Ivan Safronov, a specialist in military matters, accused of high treason. Incarcerated since 2020, his case had been denounced by colleagues as revenge for his articles evoking embarrassing failures in the Russian army.
” The representative of the prosecution asked to find Safronov guilty of high treason and impose a sentence of 24 years in prison in a penal colony with a harsh regime “Said the Moscow City Court, quoted by the state agency TASS, after a hearing behind closed doors.
Recognized expert in Defense issues, Ivan Safronov, 32, had been arrested in July 2020in a context of growing pressure on the independent press.
His affair was denounced by his former colleagues as revenge for his articles discussing failures or embarrassing incidents in the Russian army.
Since April, he has been tried behind closed doors, as it is a trial for espionage and treason. At the start of the trial, he proclaimed his innocence and denounced the ” extreme cynicism ” of Justice.
Ivan Safronov had worked for two Russian national dailies, Vedomosti and Kommersant. pushed to Kommersant’s resignation in 2019, in May 2020 he became an adviser to the former director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.
According to the Russian security services (FSB), he is suspected of having transmitted state secrets on military and technical cooperation, defense and security of Russia ” at ” an intelligence service of a NATO country “. He is accused of having made public information concerning the delivery of Russian weapons in the Middle East and Africa to the Czech Republic, a member of NATO, while working as a journalist in 2017.
The Kremlin for its part assured that his arrest had ” nothing to do with his journalistic activity “.
The verdict is expected soon.
►Also read: Press freedom in Russia: “Journalism is completely destroyed”
(With AFP & Reuters)