INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A prominent Russian journalist, who went on trial for treason on Monday, insisted he was innocent and denounced the case that could see him
jailed for up to 20 years.Ivan Safronov, who stands accused of "state treason in the form of espionage," worked for years for business
newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti and was one of Russia's most respected journalists covering defense.Sitting in a glass enclosure in the
Moscow city court, Safronov, 31, looked pale but still managed to smile, an AFP correspondent said.Journalists were allowed into the court
years and independent outlets have shut down since the beginning of Russia's military action in Ukraine.Safronov was arrested in July 2020,
handing it over to the intelligence of a NATO member country.Safronov said his reporting was based on analysis of open sources and
an innocent person when journalists cannot attend a hearing and tell the whole of Russia that all the charges have been pulled out of thin
air," he said on Facebook.Safronov's arrest sparked an uproar among supporters, some of whom took to the streets of Moscow to
protest.Safronov's lawyers have said that his arrest was the first time in nearly two decades that a journalist was arrested and jailed on
treason charges.A growing number of Russians in other professions have in recent years been accused of high treason or disclosing state
senior died in 2007 after falling out of a window
At the time of his death he was working on a story about Russia sending an air defence system and planes to Iran and Syria.
