Memorial project recognizes journalist Ivan Safronov as a political prisoner

Project “Support for political prisoners. Memorial recognized the former special correspondent of Kommersant and Vedomosti, adviser to the head of Roskosmos, Ivan Safronov, convicted in the case of treason, as a political prisoner. Project “Support for political prisoners. Memorial” was replaced by the Human Rights Center (HRC) “Memorial” after its liquidation. The HRC was recognized as a foreign agent and liquidated by decision of the Supreme Court in December 2021.

“Support for political prisoners. Memorial” in its Telegram channel calls the case, in which Ivan Safronov was sentenced to 22 years in prison, fabricated. His decision “Support for political prisoners. Memorial” is based on the analysis of the indictment made by the “Project” (the publication was recognized in the Russian Federation as an undesirable organization in 2021 and closed, in the spring of 2022 it resumed its activities). According to this analysis, the FSB did not prove the journalist’s guilt.

“Safronov’s collaboration with Voronin and Larisch was limited to the analysis of open sources. The investigation did not provide evidence of the connection of Larish and Voronin with foreign intelligence services, except for the information from the SVR, and arbitrarily declared information in the public domain as a state secret, ”Support for political prisoners. Memorial”. The investigation also “did not establish the source of allegedly secret information, to which Safronov himself did not have access,” human rights activists say.

Initially Ivan Safronov, according to media reports, was charged with cooperation with a representative of Czech intelligence Martin Larisch, and later with German intelligence. The last alleged journalist for $ 248 conveyed information about the activities of the Russian army in Syria, this was done through political scientist Demuri Voronin, who has citizenship of Russia and Germany. Mr. Voronin allegedly admitted his guilt and testified.

On September 5, the Moscow City Court sentenced Ivan Safronov to 22 years in a strict regime colony. Ivan Safronov pleaded not guilty. November 30 in Moscow, the first Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction will consider complaint against his sentence.

More about the case and the verdict – in the material “Kommersant” “Everything is clear as twenty-two”.

Maria Fedotova