Some 50 Journalists Protest Against Safronov's Arrest In Moscow

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2020) Approximately 50 journalists gathered outside of Moscow's Lefortovo prison in a show of support for their former colleague, Ivan Safronov, who was charged with treason, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Monday.�

Law enforcement officers tried to convince the crowd to disperse, as they were violating the ban on public events imposed over the threat of the coronavirus disease.

At least 11 participants, including Safronov's former colleagues from the Kommersant newspaper, have been detained.

"We are currently sitting in a paddy wagon, there are ten of us here, nine women and one young man. They are not telling us anything, [and] not transporting us anywhere, we are [just] sitting in the paddy wagon. I was wearing a t-shirt, [and] we were told that wearing those t-shirts was kind of like [holding] a picket sign and was a cause for holding us liable for taking part in an unauthorized event," Kommersant journalist Anna Povago said.

She named other Kommersant journalists, Olga Allenova, Anna Vasilyeva, Liliya Galyavieva and Alla Pugacheva, as among the detainees, as well as at least three former employees.

"So far, I have not been aware of that [arrest]," Kommersant's Editor-In-Chief Vladimir Zhelonkin told Sputnik.

His counterpart from the Holod online magazine, Taisiya Bekbulatova, told Sputnik about one of her correspondents having been detained.

"They have detained Maria Karpenko, she is Holod's special correspondent. She was wearing a Free Ivan Safronov t-shirt. She was not standing in the picket, she was just standing on a sidewalk," Bekbulatova, who is also a witness in the Safronov case, said.

Later, she was detained by the police as well.

On Tuesday, Safronov was detained over allegations of passing classified defense information, which amounts to treason. He has since denied the charges.

Space agency Roscosmos, where Safronov now works as an adviser to its chief, said that the detention was not related to his work for the space agency. Before Roscosmos, Safronov worked for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers for ten years, covering topics related to defense and space industries. According to the Kommersant publishing house, the high treason accusations against Safronov are absurd, as he is a "true patriot." Vedomosti has urged an impartial and lawful examination of Safronov's case.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said that the detention of Safronov did not appear to be connected to his work as a journalist.