– Russian former navy reporter Ivan Safronov on Monday dismissed treason costs towards him as a “travesty” as his trial was set to start behind closed doorways in Moscow.
Safronov was a distinguished journalist and a part of the pool of formally accredited Kremlin reporters till shortly earlier than his arrest in July 2020, when his detention despatched a chill by Russia’s already tightly managed media panorama.
“Simply put your self in my place — they're telling you that you've got dedicated against the law, however they don't seem to be telling you what crime precisely,” he mentioned in an announcement printed by the English-language Moscow Occasions.
“How will you defend your self towards this absurdity? … It is a full travesty of justice and customary sense!”
Ivan Pavlov, previously certainly one of Safronov’s legal professionals, mentioned after the arrest that investigators had accused Safronov of revealing secrets and techniques about Russian arms deliveries to the Center East and Africa in 2017, whereas he was working for the Kommersant newspaper. He cited investigators as saying the secrets and techniques had later been shared with the US.
Pavlov himself got here underneath prison investigation after being accused of revealing categorized info whereas defending Safronov and fled Russia final September, saying he had been positioned on a wished checklist.
Safronov may very well be jailed for as much as 20 years if discovered responsible.
“For a 12 months and 9 months I've been pressured to say that I'm responsible of excessive treason,” he added in his assertion. “However I repeat and can repeat — I'm not responsible.”
Russia has for years been clamping down on media that report critically on the federal government, but after Safronov was arrested reporters from the Kremlin pool itself posted a video during which they spoke out in his defence.
Since sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moscow has outlawed reporting on the battle that departs from the official line, and compelled the closure of the few important impartial media shops nonetheless working from Russian soil.
Two months earlier than he was arrested, Safronov give up journalism and have become an adviser to the top of Russia’s house company, Roscosmos.
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