A court docket in Moscow on Monday jailed a journalist for 22 years in a most safety jail on fees of treason after an ordeal broadly noticed as politically motivated.
The sentence passed all the way down to Ivan Safronov is among the cruelest blows dealt to impartial newshounds and Kremlin critics in Russia.
Safronov labored as a defence and area reporter for Kommersant newspaper for a decade, earlier than turning into an adviser to the pinnacle of the Russian area company Roscosmos.
Speaking to newshounds outdoor the court docket one in all his attorneys slammed the sentence
“I cannot call this sentence anything but “insufficient,” said Dmitriy Kachev. “Hackneyed phrases like “unlawful” and “unjust” cannot mirror the entire absurdity that has came about these days and which we’ve got all witnessed. Ivan Safronov used to be given 22 years for his journalism paintings. I need each and every one in all you Russian newshounds taking a look at me now, to consider if it is value occurring with this career – if an individual is given 22 years for doing his activity.”
Safronov used to be accused of passing army secrets and techniques to Czech intelligence, and details about the Russian army to a German nationwide. He insists on his innocence and argued that he accrued the entire knowledge from open assets at some stage in his paintings and did not anything unlawful.
Many Russian newshounds and human rights activists have driven for Safronov’s free up, keeping up that the government could have sought after to take revenge for his reporting that revealed Russian army incidents and shady fingers offers.
