Russian ex-journalist Safronov jailed for 22 years

A former Russian journalist was found guilty of treason on Monday and sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security prison in a ruling widely seen as politically motivated.

The sentence handed to Ivan Safronov in Moscow is among the harshest moves against Russian independent journalists and Kremlin critics, who have faced mounting pressure in recent years.

Safronov worked as a defense and space reporter for Kommersant newspaper for a decade, before becoming an adviser to the head of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos.

He was accused of passing military secrets to Czech intelligence, and information about the Russian military to a German national.

The former journalist insisted on his innocence and argued that he collected all the information from open sources in the course of his work and did nothing illegal.

Many Russian journalists and human rights activists have pushed for Safronov’s release.

They maintain that the authorities may have wanted to take revenge for his reporting that exposed Russian military incidents and shady arms deals.

Hours before the ruling was announced by the Moscow City Court, 15 independent Russian media outlets issued a joint statement demanding Safronov's release.

“It is obvious to us that the reason for persecuting Ivan Safronov is not ‘treason’, which hasn't been substantiated... but his work as a journalist and stories he published without any regard for what the Defense Ministry or Russian authorities think,” the statement read.

The European Union on Monday also urged Russian authorities to drop all charges against Safronov and “release him without any conditions”.

It denounced “systematic repressions of the regime against independent journalism”.

Safronov has been in custody since his July 2020 arrest in Moscow.

Safronov’s father also worked for Kommersant, covering military issues after retiring from the armed forces.

In 2007, he died after falling from a window of his apartment building in Moscow.

Investigators concluded that he killed himself, but some Russian media outlets questioned this, pointing to his intent to publish a sensitive report about secret arms deliveries to Iran and Syria.