The Moscow City Court left former Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov under arrest

The Moscow City Court rejected an appeal to extend the arrest of former Kommersant correspondent Ivan Safronov, who is accused of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by MBKh Media with reference to the press service of the court.

On December 16, on the eve of the trial, lawyers could not get to Ivan Safronov in the pre-trial detention center. “We were not informed about the reasons, we were not allowed. Tomorrow we have an appeal, we hope that we can have a few words there. And then we will think depending on the results of the meeting, ” the publication reported the words of lawyer Dmitry Katchev.

In November, the Lefortovsky District Court decided to keep Safronov in custody until March 7, 2021. Neither journalists nor relatives of Ivan Safronov could attend the meeting.

• The Qualification Commission of the Council of the Moscow Chamber of Advocates refused to hold Ivan Safronov's lawyers accountable. The Ministry of Justice demanded this because the lawyers refused to give a non-disclosure agreement on the data of the preliminary investigation, which the investigator tried to take on July 13, the day Safronov was charged.
• In October, the investigator denied Safronov a telephone conversation with his mother. The law enforcement officer considered that the conversation could be used to "perform intelligence assignments of a foreign intelligence service."
• 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, then the arrest was extended until December.