Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti

Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov was released – at approximately 20:53 Moscow time, he left the building of the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow. The Dozhd TV channel broadcast from the building. Golunov was met on the street by several dozen journalists, friends, and sympathizers.

"Thank you for your support, I still have difficulty understanding what is happening. Justice has been served, the criminal case has been closed. I hope that the investigation will continue and that no one else will find themselves in the same situation as me," Golunov said after leaving the department's gates. According to Golunov's lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, Golunov's defense will insist on continuing the investigation and punishing the guilty parties.

"I never even thought that this could happen to me. My moral damages will be compensated for by ensuring that this never happens to anyone else in this country," Golunov noted. He admitted that he will not attend the march in his support scheduled for June 12.

Golunov is free. Photos 1 / 15

Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov was released – at approximately 8:53 p.m. Moscow time, he left the building of the Main Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow / Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti

Golunov was detained on June 6 on suspicion of drug trafficking. The Interior Ministry claimed that after the arrest, methylephedrone was found on the journalist, and during a search of his apartment, more than 5 grams of cocaine. On June 8, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow placed him under house arrest. The journalist's defense petitioned to overturn this decision as illegal and unfounded.

Golunov did not admit his guilt. He said that the drugs were planted on him, and linked the case against him to his professional activities. Golunov is an investigative journalist. At that time, he was working on a story about the funeral business in Russia, Meduza reported.

Joint statement by the editorial boards of Vedomosti, Kommersant and RBC on the case of Ivan Golunov

Opinions / From the editors

According to Golunov's lawyers, the journalist's detention was carried out with numerous violations. Police officers did not allow him to contact his relatives, colleagues or lawyer for more than 12 hours after his detention. Golunov himself also said that he was beaten and refused to undergo hand swabs and nail clippings to check whether the journalist had touched or used drugs. The Interior Ministry denied the beating.

Also, a gallery of nine photographs was attached to the information about Golunov's detention on the website of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow, which, according to the statement of the capital's headquarters, were taken in Golunov's apartment. Several friends and colleagues of the journalist immediately reported in the media and social networks that eight of these pictures were not taken in his apartment. Then the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs admitted that only one photo was taken in the journalist's apartment. An examination was conducted, which did not find traces of narcotic substances in Golunov's biological materials or on control swabs from the palms of his hands and nail plates. The journalist's fingerprints were also not found on the bags of drugs confiscated from his apartment.

On June 11, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev personally announced that the Interior Ministry had dropped all charges against the journalist. According to Kolokoltsev, all employees involved in Golunov's case have been suspended from their official duties for an investigation. The investigation materials have been transferred to the Investigative Committee. Kolokoltsev also stated that he would petition for the dismissal of Andrei Puchkov, head of the Western Administrative District Department of Internal Affairs, and Yuri Devyatkin, head of the Department for Combating Illegal Drug Trafficking of the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs.

"We are Ivan Golunov." Who else joined the action in defense of the journalist 1 / 14

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