Russia: journalist Ivan Safronov is sentenced to 22 years for treason

What happened

On September 5, 2022, a Moscow court sentenced Ivan Safronov, a former military correspondent for the newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti, to 22 years in prison for treason, along with a fine of 500,000 rubles and two years of restricted freedom after release, with eligibility for parole after 14 years. Authorities accused Safronov of spying for a foreign country, but reporting on the case indicated that the classified material he was accused of sharing was already publicly available, and press freedom groups said the prosecution was tied to his 2019 reporting on a planned Russian sale of fighter jets to Egypt, published while he still worked as a journalist. Safronov had been held since his arrest in July 2020 and, as of the sentencing, planned to appeal. The Committee to Protect Journalists' program director, Carlos Martinez de la Serna, said the sentence was unacceptable for a man guilty of no crime other than doing his job as a journalist.¹²³

Safronov was sentenced to 22 years and planned to appeal; the source reviewed does not report the outcome of any appeal.³

What reason was given

Stated justification

Not stated in the sources reviewed as a public account of the specific classified material at issue; authorities accused Safronov of spying for a foreign country under Russia's treason law.¹²³

What changed for reporting

A journalist who had reported on Russian military affairs received one of the longest sentences imposed on a Russian journalist in the post-Soviet period, in a case linked by press freedom groups to his earlier reporting rather than any later state role.¹²³

Timeline

Who acted

Outlets and journalists

Sources

1. CPJ dismayed by 22-year sentence for Russian journalist Ivan SafronovCommittee to Protect Journalists, 2022-09-05, reporting. Source record
2. Russian ex-journalist Safronov gets 22 years in prison for treasonReuters, 2022-09-05, reporting. Source record