MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax) - The Moscow City Court, which is processing a defense appeal against the arrest of Ivan Safronov, an advisor to the head of Roscosmos and a former journalist charged with high reason, has added a dozen letters of guarantee and 25 character references to the case materials, lawyer Ivan Pavlov said.
"The court has added references and guarantee letters to the case materials. A dozen people have vouched for Ivan. There are 25 character references, including those from every place of his employment: Roscosmos, Vedomosti and Kommersant, and his alma mater, the Higher School of Economics," Pavlov said.
The Bell founder Elizaveta Osetinskaya, former Kommersant deputy chief editor Gleb Cherkasov, Novaya Gazeta chief editor Dmitry Muratov, former Vedomosti publisher Demyan Kudryavtsev, and some others have vouched for Safronov.
The court has denied the defense's request for an open trial.