Ivan Safronov in the last word declared his innocence

The ex-special correspondent of Kommersant and Vedomosti, adviser to the head of Roskosmos, Ivan Safronov, in his last word, said that his criminal prosecution in the case of treason is directly related to his work as a journalist. According to him, there is not a single evidence in the case that someone introduced or passed on to him information related to state secrets. His last word in court was published by BBC Russian Service.

“First, the detectives, and then the investigators, tried to bring my journalistic work under a criminal article, the penalty for which is up to 20 years in prison. All that the investigation tried to do was not to understand the situation, but to adjust what I lived and worked with to the criteria of espionage. Having studied everything that the investigation charged me with, I can unequivocally state that my criminal prosecution is directly related to my journalistic work,” he said.

According to Ivan Safronov, in his case there is no evidence that someone passed on or introduced him to information that falls under state secrets, as well as a selfish motive. “None of the witnesses interrogated in court, including secret bearers and “secret” witnesses, said anything about me that would confirm the version of the investigation about my alleged “espionage” activities,” he said.

Ivan Safronov added that the wiretapping of his apartment, which has been conducted since 2014, confirms that he never discussed the topics that he wrote for journalist Martin Larysh and political scientist Demuri Voronin. According to him, Mr. Voronin also confirmed to the court that Mr. Safronov was engaged exclusively in journalistic work.

He noted that errors were also made in the examination: experts compared the text of 2017, written from open sources, with top secret documents of 2018, and also recognized information from the Arms Export magazine for 2016 as secret as of 2017. Ivan Safronov added that the court refused to add to the case a number of evidence of his innocence.

“To find me guilty is to subscribe to the fact that I have committed espionage of my own thoughts. To find me guilty is to subscribe to the fact that writing articles on open sources is tantamount to a crime. To recognize me as guilty means to admit that in Russia journalism is a crime. I will never agree with this. You have to determine what will happen to journalism in our country in the future,” Ivan Safronov said.

In his opinion, the 24-year sentence requested by the prosecutor in a strict regime colony “is monstrous not only in its absurdity, but also in its consequences – not only for me, but also for the image of the country.” “There is no corpus delicti in my actions and never has been. I insist on my innocence and demand a full acquittal,” the journalist concluded.

Today, August 30, in the Moscow City Court took place debate of the parties in the case of treason. Ivan Safronov is accused of two episodes of cooperation with the Czech and German intelligence structures. Prosecutor Boris Loktionov asked for 24 years in a strict regime colony for him. Sentence will announce September 5th.

Ivan Safronov was detained and arrested on July 7, 2020. The investigation accuses him of two episodes of cooperation with the Czech and German intelligence structures. In June, a witness from the defendant’s inner circle testified about the legal origin of the amounts, which were initially regarded as “payment for espionage,” Kommersant found out. Another witness did not rule out that the criminal case was connected with Mr. Safronov’s critical assessments of shortcomings in the defense industry of the Russian Federation.