Prosecutors seek 24 years in prison for former journalist Ivan Safronov

Representative for the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Boris Loktionov, seeks a prison term of 24 years for former journalist Ivan Safronov, an adviser to the head of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, TASS reports.

"A state prosecutor demanded Safronov be found guilty of treason and sentenced to 24 years in prison to be served in a strict regime colony,” the Moscow City Court told the news agency.

Earlier it was reported that the Moscow City Court refused to summon Czech citizen Martin Larisch for questioning in the case of treason, in which Safronov appears as a defendant. According to the lawyer, prosecutors believe that it was Larish, who received information containing state secrets from Safronov.

According to the FSB, from 2015 to 2019 Safronov was collecting classified information about Russia's military-technical cooperation with member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the countries of the Middle East, Africa and the Balkan Peninsula. He was detained on July 7, 2020. The journalist refused to make a deal with the investigation and strongly denies his guilt.