The case against him was opened on August 5 and is being investigated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region, Mediazona reported from the courtroom of the Moscow City Court, which rejected an appeal against his detention.
According to his lawyer, Natalia Tikhonova, the order opening the case states that the investigation considers "at least six publications" on the internet to constitute state treason. The defense lawyer did not specify what they were about.
Kondratov was born and grew up in Moscow but had lived in Kyiv since 2012, where his family remains. He came to Russia to replace his foreign passport, Memorial writes. He was detained on May 5 at border control at Vnukovo Airport.
Before the treason case was opened, Kondratov spent more than 70 days under "carousel arrests," Mediazona reports. The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow ordered his detention in the new case, and the Moscow City Court ruled the detention lawful.
Kondratov worked as a production designer in the Russian and Ukrainian film industries. For the detective series "Liquidation," released in 2007, he received a Golden Eagle award and a TEFI. The series depicts the work of the criminal investigation department in post-war Odesa in 1946 and stars Vladimir Mashkov, Mikhail Porechenkov, Sergei Makovetsky and Konstantin Lavronenko.