charge of high treason
Former Russian journalist sentenced to 22 years in prison
09/05/2022, 8:00 p.m
Former Russian journalist Ivan Safronov is on trial for high treason. The 32-year-old refused to plead guilty in order to receive a lighter sentence. Eventually he was sentenced to 22 years in a penal camp. The decision is shocking.
In a controversial espionage trial, a Moscow court has sentenced former Russian journalist Ivan Safronov to 22 years in a prison camp for high treason. The verdict was handed down in the Moscow City Court. The defense therefore announced an objection. The verdict caused horror among journalists and human rights activists.
Prosecutors had requested 24 years in prison after Safronov turned down an offer to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence of 12 years in prison. The Kremlin had previously announced that the allegations against Safronov were serious. According to the investigators, the 32-year-old is said to have passed on confidential information about arms deals and operations by the Russian armed forces in Africa and the Middle East to foreign secret services.
Safronov’s lawyer rejected the allegations at the start of the trial and said the journalist had only used publicly available sources. Safronov was arrested more than two years ago and has been in custody ever since. The process was closed to the public. The journalist used to write for the newspapers “Kommersant” and “Vedomosti” on military and security issues. Before his arrest, he worked for the Russian space agency Roskosmos.
The EU had previously called for the charges against the journalist to be dropped and for his release. “The regime’s systematic attack on independent journalism deprives citizens of the right to factual information, including Russia’s war in Ukraine,” said a spokesman for the EU’s foreign service.