The verdict of political scientist with citizenship of Russia and Germany Demuri Voronin came into force, whom the Moscow City Court found guilty of treason, appointing 13 years and three months in a strict regime colony. Mr. Voronin gained notoriety for his involvement in the case of journalist Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 22 years on charges of a similar crime. The political scientist pleaded guilty to working for German intelligence and entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation, the condition of which was the disclosure of another crime. As a result, an additional episode appeared in the case of Mr. Safronov. However, speaking as a witness at the trial of a journalist, Mr. Voronin retracted his confessions.
Representatives of the Moscow City Court announced that 43-year-old political scientist Demuri Voronin had been sentenced on charges of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) only after the court decision entered into force. This means that the convict agreed with the imposed sentence of 13 years and three months in prison, without appealing against it within the 15-day period allotted for this Code of Criminal Procedure from the date of receipt of a copy of the court decision. It is worth noting that the Moscow City Court did not report on the additional punishments that often accompany such sentences – the restriction of freedom after release, the conversion of funds received as a reward for treason to the state, and so on.
Little is known about the details of Demuri Voronin’s case. According to available information, a native of Komi moved to Germany many years ago, having received citizenship there. German laws allow this only in exceptional cases, but Mr. Voronin, who allegedly chose the name Dieter for himself in his new homeland, was able to keep the passport of Russia, which he visited only on short visits.
During his last visit to the Russian Federation in February 2021, he was detained by the FSB and, with the approval of the Lefortovo court, was placed in a pre-trial detention center. Soon, information appeared in the media that Demuri Voronin pleaded guilty and began to cooperate with the investigation.
Thanks to this, in the case of the former special correspondent of Kommersant and Vedomosti, as well as the adviser to the head of Roskosmos, Ivan Safronov, who was arrested on charges of collaborating with Czech intelligence, an episode appeared that was already connected with German intelligence. It was dated back in December 2015, that is, it happened before the first one. And in the investigation against the journalist himself, a certain person began to be mentioned, in respect of which the criminal case was separated into a separate proceeding “in connection with the conclusion of a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with him.” Later, information finally appeared that this was Demuri Voronin.
According to the FSB, Ivan Safronov, being a journalist, gave the political scientist some information about the activities of the Russian military in Syria, which he, in turn, forwarded to representatives of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the German Foreign Intelligence Service (BND), which is under the control of the department of the country’s federal chancellor. According to the prosecution, the intermediary Voronin paid Ivan Safronov $248 for this information.
As a result, the political scientist became a prosecution witness at the closed-door trial of Ivan Safronov.
Obviously, incriminating testimony against the journalist was a prerequisite for the deal of the defendant who admitted his guilt, who was obliged to help solve another crime in exchange for a commutation of his own sentence. However, as Kommersant reported, at the trial, Mr. Voronin allegedly actually retracted his earlier confessions, saying that Ivan Safronov was engaged in “pure” journalism and could not guess where the data he had collected would end up. This statement, along with the rather ridiculous-looking amount of remuneration for high treason, shook the position of the prosecution at the trial of Ivan Safronov. However, the demarche itself had no serious consequences for Mr. Voronin. Due to the secrecy of the case, it is not known whether the deal with him was terminated or not, but it remains a fact that, according to the verdict of the Moscow City Court, he received only one year and three months more than the minimum punishment under Art. 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.