Safronov’s petition to dismiss his case was not accepted

FSB investigator Alexander Chaban refused to accept the defense petition of Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and adviser to the head of Roskosmos accused of treason, to dismiss his criminal case.

This is reported by TASS with reference to lawyer Ivan Pavlov (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia).

According to the lawyer, the lawyers were not even allowed to carry the petition into the building of the FSB Investigation Department.

In the document, the defense noted that the file does not say what kind of secret information Safronov transferred abroad, when and for whom he collected it. In addition, lawyers again drew attention to the fact that Safronov did not have access to state secrets, and received all the information for writing journalistic materials from open sources.

Earlier, an adviser to the head of Roskosmos asked for three hours and a laptop to prove his innocence. He told the court that the data on Russia’s defense capability, which he is accused of transmitting, are in the public domain on the Internet.

Safronov’s defense was limited in terms of familiarization with the case materials until February 11. The defendant himself will be in jail until April 7.

Safronov is charged with transferring secret information about Russian military-technical cooperation and the defense industry to the NATO intelligence service. According to investigators, he handed over to the Czech intelligence services secret data on Russia’s military-technical cooperation in Africa and the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in the Middle East.