Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called harsh the court's decision to sentence ex-correspondent of Kommersant and Vedomosti Ivan Safronov to 22 years in a strict regime colony in a case of treason. Peskov said this on the RBC TV channel.
“This is a court verdict, and I have no right to comment on it in any way. Yes, we can state that this is a very harsh sentence, I have nothing more to say on this topic,” said Vladimir Putin’s press secretary. .jpg» class=»mz-publish-context-cite__image» alt=»1″ />The case of Ivan Safronov. Sentence
Peskov has previously repeatedly commented on the Safronov case. After the arrest of the journalist, Putin said that he was “convicted” for passing information about Roskosmos, then, according to the press secretary, the president misspoke. However, a week later he again expressed this version, and Peskov assured journalists that Putin was receiving information from the investigation.
At the same time, according to the investigation, Safronova, cooperating with Czech intelligence since 2017, transmitted “information about Russia’s military-technical cooperation with the Middle East African state.” Also, an episode about the transfer for $248secret data to political scientist Demuri Voronin, who is now also arrested in a case of treason.
The Proekt publication studied the indictment and found out that the secret information, which Safronov is accused of disclosing, is in open sources. The journalist asked the court to attach the investigation to the materials of his case, but was refused.
Yesterday, the Moscow City Court sentenced Safronov to 22 years in a strict regime colony and a fine of 500 thousand rubles. More than 15 publications spoke in defense of the correspondent. In addition, Safronov's former colleagues from Kommersant published a letter in which they suggested that «at another time, in another situation» the court would have acquitted him.
Journalism is not a crime. We demand the release of Ivan Safronov