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‘Freedom for Safronov’ banner hung near Moscow’s Lefortovo Pretrial Detention Center
Source: Meduza
A banner in support of jailed former investigative journalist Ivan Safronov appeared on a Moscow bridge near the Lefortovo Pretrial Detention Center on the morning of July 13. Safronov, who previously reported on Russia’s military-industrial complex for the top business newspapers “Kommersant” and “Vedomosti,” went to work as a communications advisor to the head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos in May 2020. Federal agents arrested him on treason charges on July 7 and he was jailed for two months. According to the independent television station “Dozhd,” earlier in the day journalists hung a banner with the same words — “Freedom for Safronov” (#СвободуСафронову) — on a fence next to the pre-trial detention center where Safronov is being held. It was immediately taken down. Investigators from the Federal Security Service (FSB) formally charged Safronov with treason during the afternoon of July 13.
Evgeny Feldman for “Meduza”