former journalist of the Russian Kommersant and the ex-adviser of the head of Roscosmos Ivan Safronov was given 22 years in a maximum security colony in the case of the “transfer of secret information” on the Russian Armed Forces.
The court also decided to limit his freedom for two years, that is, during this period, Ivan Safronov will be forbidden to leave the region and he will be obliged to regularly be celebrated to the Federal Penitentiary Service. The prosecution asked him to be sentenced to 24 years in a maximum security colony. Ivan Safronov did not plead guilty, the Ukrainian media reported.
Ivan Safronov was detained and arrested on July 7, 2020. The investigation accuses him of two episodes of cooperation with Czech and German intelligence structures. The defense insisted that even witnesses of the prosecution confirmed during interrogations that there was no betrayal, and the Safronov, who had no access to Gostine, was engaged exclusively in journalism.
The lawyer of the accused Yevgeny Smirnov said that during the break of the last meeting of the court, one of the state prosecutors Elvira Zotchik invited Safronov to admit the guilt in exchange for a 12-year imprisonment, but he refused. Ivan Safronov did not plead guilty and in his last word stated that the case against him was connected with his journalistic activity.