MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court has sentenced political scientist Demuri Voronin to 13 years and three months in prison. He was implicated in the case of Ivan Safronov, former adviser to the CEO of Roscosmos, who was convicted of high treason, the court’s press service told TASS.

"The court found Demuri Voronin guilty under Article 275 of the Criminal Code ("Treason") and sentenced him to 13 years and three months in prison to be served in a maximum security penal colony," the press service said.

Voronin’s defense declined to appeal the verdict, which then took legal effect.

Demuri Voronin holds German and Russian citizenship; he had been a permanent resident of Germany until his arrest.

As Safronov's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov (deemed a foreign agent), previously told TASS, according to investigators in December 2015 Safronov passed some information to Voronin about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, which the latter, in turn, forwarded to representatives of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND). According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the transmitted information could be used to analyze the actions of Russian troops in Syria. According to the prosecution, Voronin paid Safronov a reward of $248.

The political scientist was arrested in February 2021 on charges of high treason. Several dozen Russian political scientists and journalists had collaborated with his consulting agency. According to some reports, after his arrest he made a confession that proved crucial to the investigation and was eventually used in the Safronov case. The latter was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to 22 years in prison for treason.