Russian prosecutors on the trial of a former journalist requested the court docket Tuesday handy him a 24-year jail sentence on treason costs.
Ivan Safronov who labored as a journalist for a decade earlier than turning into an adviser to the pinnacle of the Russian area company Roscosmos, has been in custody since his July 2020 arrest in Moscow. He has rejected the fees of passing navy secrets and techniques to Czech intelligence and insisted on his innocence.
Safronov’s case displays the challenges confronted by Russian journalists, which have grown even harder amid Moscow’s navy motion in Ukraine.
Safronov, who coated navy and safety points for the main Russian enterprise day by day Kommersant earlier than becoming a member of Roscosmos, acknowledged that he had collected all the knowledge from open sources in the midst of his work and did nothing unlawful. He has argued that the investigators have did not spell out the treason costs and clarify what secrets and techniques he had allegedly revealed.
Many Russian journalists and human rights activists have pushed for Safronov’s launch, and a few have alleged that the authorities could have wished to take revenge for his reporting that uncovered Russian navy incidents and shady arms offers.
Roscosmos has mentioned that Safronov did not have entry to state secrets and techniques, and claimed that the fees did not relate to Safronov’s work for the company, which he joined in Could 2020.
Rights activists, journalists, scientists and company officers who’ve confronted treason accusations in Russia lately have discovered it troublesome to defend themselves due to secrecy surrounding their circumstances and an absence of public entry to info.
Safronov’s father additionally labored for Kommersant masking navy points after retiring from the armed forces. In 2007, he died after falling from a window of his condominium constructing in Moscow.
Investigators concluded that he killed himself, however some Russian media shops questioned the official model, pointing to his intent to publish a delicate report about secret arms deliveries to Iran and Syria.
