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Russian ex-journalist Ivan Safronov jailed 22 years on treason charges
EU denounces 'systematic repressions of the regime against independent journalism'
Thomson Reuters ·
Posted: Sep 05, 2022 1:07 PM ET |
(Moscow City Court/The Associated Press)
A Russian court on Monday sentenced a former journalist to 22 years in prison for treason after prosecutors said he disclosed state secrets, a ruling his supporters said was a harsh punishment that showed the absence of media freedom in Russia.
Ivan Safronov, 32, who was a defence and space reporter for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers before becoming adviser to the head of Russia's space agency, was arrested in 2020 and accused of disclosing classified information. He has been in custody since his arrest in Moscow.
Safronov's father also worked for Kommersant, covering military issues after retiring from the armed forces. In 2007, he died after falling from a window of his apartment building in Moscow.
Investigators concluded that he killed himself, but some Russian media outlets questioned the official version, pointing to his intent to publish a sensitive report about secret arms deliveries to Iran and Syria.
Safronov's lawyers told the RIA Novosti news agency they will appeal the verdict. His supporters say the case is retribution for his reporting, which exposed details of Russia's international arms deals.
'Charge of treason is absurd'
"Everybody who is close to Safronov believes the charge of treason is absurd," journalist Katerina Gordeeva said after interviewing his mother, sister and former colleagues for a documentary about the case.
Hours before the ruling was announced by the Moscow City Court, 15 independent Russian media outlets issued a joint statement demanding Safronov's release.
"It is obvious to us that the reason for persecuting Ivan Safronov is not 'treason,' which hasn't been substantiated ... but his work as a journalist and stories he published without any regard for what the Defence Ministry or Russian authorities think," the statement read.
Included in the statement was media outlet Novaya Gazeta. Separately on Monday, a Moscow court revoked the publishing licence for the media outlet, a flagship independent newspaper that ceased publishing days after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine and imposed strict new controls over media outlets.
The European Union on Monday also urged Russian authorities to drop all charges against Safronov and "release him without any conditions," denouncing "systematic repressions of the regime against independent journalism."
Speaking outside the courtoom, Safronov's lawyer, Dmitry Katchev, said he was almost lost for words at the ruling.
"Safronov was given 22 years for his journalistic activity. I want each of you, who are looking at me now, to think whether it is worth staying in this profession if somebody was given 22 years for doing his job," he told reporters.
'Cruel punishment'
Human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said the sentence was a "savage, demonstratively cruel punishment, corresponding to the current state of Russia."
He said he could not find any examples of any treason cases leading to such a lengthy sentence, let alone against a journalist.
Prosecutors said Safronov shared state secrets about Russia's arms sales in the Middle East to the Czech Republic's foreign intelligence arm. He has denied the charges and last month rejected a plea deal that would have seen him serve a 12-year prison sentence.
Information was not secret, defence says
Safronov said the information he is alleged to have passed to the Czech Republic was all open source public information.
During the trial, his legal team published links to 19 published articles and government statements that prosecutors claim constitute the "state secrets" Safronov is alleged to have passed to Czech foreign intelligence.
"Ivan never sent any secret information anywhere — for money or for free.... He was an ordinary journalist, honestly doing his job," his lawyers said in a statement.
Following his arrest, the Kremlin called Safronov a "talented journalist," while it has repeatedly denied involvement with the case.
His defence team believes the trial is retribution for Safronov revealing Russia's plans to sell fighter jets to Egypt. The estimated $2-billion US deal was scrapped soon after when the U.S. threatened sanctions on Cairo if it went ahead.
IDF admits to 'high possibility' Palestinian journalist shot by their forces
By Clyde Hughes
Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Israel Defense Forces on Monday for the first time admitted there is a "high possibility" Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by their service members accidentally in May but will not pursue criminal charges.
Abu Akleh, who was working for Al Jazeera, was killed and her colleague Ali Sammoudi was injured on May 11 while the IDF was conducting an operation in the area.
In its own investigation, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in June that Abu Akleh was killed by shots fired by Israeli Security Forces and not by indiscriminate fire from armed Palestinians.
An IDF spokesperson said, according to the Jerusalem Post, while it is still unclear where who fired the shots that killed the journalist, "there is a high possibility that Shireen was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen, during an exchange of fire in which life-risking, widespread an indiscriminate shots were fired toward IDF soldiers."
Al Jazeera has complained that Abu Akleh was intentionally targeted by Israeli forces. Witnesses told CNN, which was supported by security video at the time of the shooting, that there was no combat activity or Palestinian militants in Abu Akleh's location at the time of the shooting.
Abu Akleh was wearing a protective vest that is labeled "PRESS" on the front and back at the time she was shot.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, who ordered the investigation, said he has found no evidence that Abu Akleh was intentionally fired upon.
"Our family is not surprised by this outcome since it's obvious to anyone that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes," Abu Akleh's family said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel. "However, we remain deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed.
Since Abu Akleh also had U.S. citizenship, the family called on the Biden administration and the International Criminal Court to hold their own investigations.
Court shuts down one of Russia's last independent media
Novaya Gazeta editor in chief says revoking licence amounts to 'political hit job'
Thomson Reuters ·
Posted: Sep 05, 2022 11:28 AM ET |
Novaya Gazeta, sits in a Moscow courtroom prior to hearing that the court had upheld a motion from Russian
authorities to revoke the media outlet's licence. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/The Associated Press)
Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's few remaining independent news outlets, was stripped of its media licence on Monday, and in effect banned from operating.
The country's media watchdog, Rozkomnadzor, had accused it of failing to provide documents related to a change of ownership in 2006.
Speaking outside court, editor in chief Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace laureate for his efforts to uphold critical news reporting in Russia, said the ruling was "a political hit job, without the slightest legal basis." He said the paper would appeal.
In a statement, Novaya Gazeta said the decision by Moscow's Basmanny District Court, which often handles politically charged cases, had "killed the newspaper, stolen 30 years of life from its workers, and deprived readers of the right to information."
The United Nations Human Rights office called the judgment "yet another blow to the independence of Russian media," and urged Moscow to protect media freedom.
Novaya Gazeta has been a stalwart of Russia's media scene since its foundation in 1993 with money from the Nobel Peace Prize of late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It had carved out a niche as Russia's leading investigative news outlet, even as media freedoms were gradually rolled back.
Muratov carries a portrait of the late Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, out of the House of Unions
after a memorial service for the former president in Moscow on Saturday. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)
In March, it suspended operations in Russia after being cautioned for violating new laws imposing strict censorship on coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
Staff have since set up a new spinoff online outlet in Europe, whose publications have also been blocked in Russia.
Muratov himself remains in Russia, and on Saturday led the funeral procession of Gorbachev, his financial backer and friend.
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