The prosecution of Ivan Golunov has been stopped

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has decided to end the criminal prosecution of Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov. The reason for the termination of the case was due to the lack of evidence of his participation in the commission of the crime.

Quote. “Based on the results of biological, forensic, fingerprint and genetic examinations, a decision was made to terminate the criminal prosecution of citizen I. Golunov due to the lack of evidence of his participation in the crime. Today he will be released from house arrest, and the charges are dropped,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The fact that the charges were dropped and the journalist would be released from house arrest was announced in a special video message by the head of the Moscow police department, Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPLMYrqrUJo

The main thing from Kolokoltsev's statement is briefly:

Kolokoltsev will petition the President for the dismissal of Police Major General Andrey Puchkov, Chief of the Internal Affairs Directorate for ZAO Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow, and Major General of Police Yuri Devyatkin, Chief of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Drug Control.
The materials of the internal investigation from the department of internal security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the case of Golunov were transferred to the Investigative Committee.
The police officers who detained Golunov have been suspended from work for the duration of the investigation. According to Baza, we are talking about six employees: Akbar Sergaliev, Roman Feofanov, Dmitry Kozhanov, Denis Konovalov, Igor Lopatin, Andrey Shirov.

The Investigative Committee then announced that it would analyze the materials of the internal security service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent by Kolokoltsev, establish the circumstances related to the detention, and, if there were grounds, based on the results of the check, would make a "legal and reasonable procedural decision."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMIdzcj4s8g

Signals. Dozhd learned that State Duma deputies are ready to introduce a draft law on mitigation of punishment for possession of drugs that is not related to their sale before the end of the spring session. Channel sources claim that the “Golunov case” can speed up the adoption of changes to the “narcotic articles”. In fact, the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself proposed not to initiate criminal cases on drugs without the fact of their transfer back in March of this year. The department's bill , which prohibits the initiation of criminal cases under articles 228.1 and 228.4 on the sale of drugs, if the fact of their transfer is not proven, was published on the portal of draft regulations on March 22. The proposed changes were expected to come into effect in December 2019. The adoption of the bill will make it possible to exclude the facts of unconditional unjustified initiation of criminal cases in the absence of objective signs of drug trafficking, it was indicated in the explanatory note to the document.

Reaction. Online after the decision was announced, Meduza hosted the comments of many people and organizations that advocated for the release of Golunov.

UPD. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin commented on the decision to release Golunov. The fact that the mayor's office was directly involved in resolving the situation, we wrote in detail here .

https://twitter.com/MosSobyanin/status/1138489936921989120

Quote. “I am happy, I am crying. We are well aware that this happened thanks to the efforts of hundreds and thousands of people. Huge thanks to all of them,” said Meduza CEO Galina Timchenko.

Context. The night before, preliminary results of the examination of the packages of drugs appearing in the Golunov case appeared. According to the lawyer, Golunov's fingerprints were not found on them, but the DNA of several people was found. The final results of the DNA analysis were expected tonight, but have not yet been announced.

The fact that the Golunov case is crumbling before our eyes became clear yesterday, including from the reaction of the state media, on the air of which they also began to discuss the detention of the journalist and speak in his support.

One of the most controversial before the release of Ivan Golunov today was the holding on Wednesday, June 12, of an uncoordinated march in Moscow in support of him.

The debate about whether to hold a march or not and whether it needs to be coordinated continues to this day. Galina Timchenko, editor-in-chief of Meduza Ivan Kolpakov, former editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and co-founder of The Bell Elizaveta Osetinskaya called for waiting for the authorities to agree on a rally in the center of Moscow.