Ivan Safronov must be acquitted and released

On August 30, 2022, the prosecutor's office demanded that the former Kommersant and Vedomosti journalist Ivan Safronov, who covered the topics of the military industry and space, be sentenced to 24 years in a strict regime colony on charges of "treason".

This is a frightening time, but the FSB has not provided any evidence of the journalist's guilt. Moreover, on August 29, the Proekt publication published an investigation in which it compared the facts from the indictment, which the FSB calls state secrets, with data from open sources. A simple search on the Internet showed that the accusations against Ivan Safronov do not stand up to scrutiny: the information used at the time he wrote the materials was in the public domain, where everyone could see it.

In addition, the prosecution did not confirm in any way that the journalist had access to secret materials and, moreover, passed them on to any intelligence. There is no evidence in the case that he received remuneration from foreign intelligence services.

In general, the indictment is a description of the active and high-quality journalistic work of Ivan Safronov - and the illegal activities of the FSB, which established surveillance of him back in 2014.

In a normal situation, the publication of the "Project" would have caused a scandal and entailed the complete acquittal of the journalist and the punishment of those who illegally persecute him. However, in our reality, the court is calmly preparing to pass a sentence on the innocent, and there is almost no hope that it will be acquitted. Such is the statistics of Russian courts.

During the investigation, Ivan Safronov and his lawyers were under intense pressure: he spent two years in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center without the opportunity to see his relatives and even call his mother; two of his lawyers, Ivan Pavlov and Yevgeny Smirnov, were forced to leave the country because of threats, and another one, Dmitry Talantov, is in jail.

Despite this, Ivan Safronov did not make a deal with his conscience and did not slander himself, although the FSB repeatedly offered him to plead guilty and reveal his journalistic sources in exchange for a reduction in punishment. The demand to sentence Safronov to an incredible term of 24 years is revenge, including for the firmness of the journalist's spirit and refusal to cooperate.

It is clear to us that the reason for the persecution of Ivan Safronov is not “treason”, which is not confirmed by anything, but in his journalistic work and materials that he published without regard to the opinion of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian authorities.

We demand:

- the immediate release of Ivan Safronov from custody;

– reviewing the case and attaching to it all the materials provided by the defense;

- removal of the composition of the court, which proved by the case its bias and bias;

- Investigations against officials who committed violations during the investigation.

We call on journalists and simply caring people to demand that the authorities fulfill these requirements. Journalism is not a crime. Ivan Safronov must be acquitted.