An article by Ivan Safronov about the work of the investigation with suspects under “spy” articles has disappeared from the Vedomosti website

Safronov’s article appeared on the newspaper’s website on the night of July 23. In it, a journalist who is in jail on suspicion of treason, told how the investigation works with suspects under a similar article.

According to the journalist’s estimates, about 10 people are convicted annually in Russia on cases of treason and espionage, while at least 50–70 people are in the operational development of the investigation. Safronov emphasizes that preparing to initiate such cases is a long process. The investigator should have at least 5-7 volumes on his hands with a description of the “criminal” activities of the person who is to be detained, the author of the article adds.

According to Safronov, the abundance of sentences under treason articles is due to the fact that “the system requires more and more cases.” The journalist emphasized that the court satisfies 100% of the investigator’s petitions and sends “a person who is often frightened and does not understand anything” to a pre-trial detention center. The suspect himself, according to Safronov, is actually deprived of the opportunity to defend himself, since appointed lawyers often suggest that a person think about concluding a pre-trial agreement.

“The conveyor works continuously, and it doesn’t matter who you are – an official, a housewife, a saleswoman, a journalist, or a scientist. Anyone who has had any contact with a foreigner will do. Anyone, ”Safronov notes. He also adds that he decided not to conclude any deals with the investigation.

This June became knownthat the investigator for especially important cases of the FSB, Colonel of Justice Alexander Chaban suggested that Ivan Safronov cooperate with the investigation in exchange for a call from his mother.

Safronov, in turn, refused Chaban’s offer. “Ivan said that this is Open Media> he will not forgive the investigator, ”stressed the journalist’s lawyer Dmitry Katchev.

Another lawyer of Ivan Safronov – Ivan Pavlov – in his Telegram channel wrote that this is not the first case of “blackmail” by the investigator. “At a court hearing on the extension of the term of detention of scientist Viktor Kudryavtsev, Chaban, in the presence of a judge, admitted that he had offered Kudryavtsev house arrest in exchange for a confession,” Pavlov wrote. The lawyer stressed that coercion to testify falls under Art. 302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Ivan Safronov was detained and arrested on July 7 last year. The FSB believes that Safronov was recruited by the Czech secret service in 2012, and in 2017 allegedly gave her secret information related to Russia’s military-technical cooperation in African countries and the actions of the Russian military in the Middle East. Safronov does not admit guilt and believes that the criminal case is related to his journalistic activities.