‘For a year and nine months I have been forced to say that I am guilty of high treason,’ Russian ex-journalist says. ‘But I repeat and will repeat – I am not guilty’
Russian former military reporter Ivan Safronov on Monday dismissed treason charges against him as a “travesty” as his trial was set to begin behind closed doors in Moscow.
“Just put yourself in my place – they are telling you that you have committed a crime, but they are not telling you what crime exactly,” he said in a statement published by the English-language Moscow Times. Ivan Pavlov, formerly one of Safronov’s lawyers, said after the arrest that investigators had accused Safronov of disclosing secrets about Russian arms deliveries to the Middle East and Africa in 2017, while he was working for the Kommersant newspaper. He cited investigators as saying the secrets had later been shared with the United States.
Russia has for years been clamping down on media that report critically on the government, yet after Safronov was arrested reporters from the Kremlin pool itself posted a video in which they spoke out in his defence.
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