The court extended the arrest of former Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov for three months.

The Lefortovo District Court of Moscow extended until December 7 the arrest of former Kommersant correspondent Ivan Safronov, who is accused of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). It is reported by "Kommersant".

At the request of the investigation and the prosecutor, the meeting was held behind closed doors. At the same time, the prosecutor himself noted that in the materials of the case under consideration there are no documents classified as “secret”, but there is information constituting a “secrecy of the investigation”.

The defense also requested that the hearings be moved to the Moscow City Court. On the basis of the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure (clause 3, part 3, article 31), cases of state secrets are within the jurisdiction of city courts, the defense claims.

The rest of the meeting was held behind closed doors.

• Ivan Safronov is a former journalist for Kommersant and Vedomosti, at the time of his arrest he was an adviser to the head of Roskosmos. The persecution of Safronov is associated with his journalistic activities, he covered the work of the military-industrial complex. Safronov was detained on July 7, 2020 by FSB officers as part of a treason case. On the same day, the court sent him to a pre-trial detention center for two months.