Russian Court Upholds Former Reporter’s 22-Year Treason Sentence

Ivan Safronov, an adviser to the director of Russia's state space corporation is seen on a TV screen, as he appears in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in a courtroom of the First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow on Dec. 7, 2022. Sergei Fedotov/AP Photo

MOSCOW—A court in the Russian capital on Wednesday rejected an appeal from a former journalist who was convicted of treason and given a 22-year prison sentence following what was widely seen as a politically motivated trial.

The appeals court upheld the September sentence handed to Ivan Safronov, who worked as a military affairs reporter for leading business newspaper Kommersant before becoming an adviser to the head of Russian space corporation Roscosmos.