Russian ex-journalist on trial for treason: 'I will fight until the end'
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[April 11, 2022]
(Reuters) - Russian former reporter
Ivan Safronov said ahead of the resumption of his treason trial on
Monday that he plans to vigorously fight the charges against him and
does not fear the prospect of being jailed.
Safronov, who covered military affairs for the Vedomosti and Kommersant
newspapers before becoming an aide to the head of Russia's space agency
two months before his arrest in July 2020, faces up to 20 years in
prison if found guilty.
He denies accusations of passing military secrets about Russian arms
sales in the Middle East and Africa to the Czech Republic, a NATO
member, while he worked as a reporter in 2017, calling them "a complete
travesty of justice and common sense".
His detention sent a chill through Russia's media landscape, where
controls were already tight and have been tightened further since Russia
invaded Ukraine in February.
His trial resumes behind closed doors later on Monday.
Striking a defiant tone in personal correspondence seen by Reuters on
Monday, Safronov said he harboured no illusions about the prospect of
being imprisoned for his alleged offences.
"I will fight until the end, there is no doubt about that," Safronov
wrote in a letter sent from Moscow's Lefortovo prison and dated March
26.
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Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and an aide to the head of
Russia's space agency Roscosmos who remains in custody on state
treason charges, reacts inside a defendants' cage as he attends a
court hearing in Moscow, Russia September 2, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia
Novozhenina/File Photo
"If it's a prison term, then it's a
prison term. It absolutely doesn't scare me," said the letter, shown
to Reuters on condition the addressee remained anonymous.
Safronov has said state investigators pointed to his acquaintance
with a Czech journalist he met in Moscow in 2010 who later set up a
website which Safronov said he contributed to using information
entirely based on open sources.
Since sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moscow has introduced
a law outlawing the use of certain terms to describe its military
intervention in Ukraine, which it calls a "special military
operation".
That prompted many independent media outlets to close or relocate.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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