Ivan Safronov, formerly a journalist for "Kommersant" and "Vedomosti," was sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in a strict regime colony on charges of treason.

The court found 32-year-old Safronov guilty on two counts: allegedly, he provided NATO countries with information about Russian troops in Syria, data on weapons shipments from Russia to African countries, and information about the activities of Russian military in the Middle East.

Human rights activists emphasize that no evidence of Safronov's guilt was collected through surveillance and wiretapping of his phones, which had been ongoing since 2014.

All the evidence from the Federal Security Service (FSB), which, as journalists found out, is only supported by a certificate from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), is noted in "Memorial."

Journalists discovered that all the "state secrets" that Safronov is accused of disclosing are freely available.

Ivan Safronov's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, was forced to leave Russia himself: he was charged with disclosing "classified data" from Safronov's case.