MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova believes that a court’s ruling on the house arrest for Ivan Golunov, a journalist from Meduza news website, involved in a drug trafficking case is well-considered.

This decision inspires the hope that further steps in the case will be fair and objective, and the defendant’s right to defense will be respected, the ombudsman’s statement reads.

Moreover, she said that a prompt response to the criminal case against the journalist from the state authorities demonstrated their susceptibility to population demands and opinion.

Golunov was arrested in Moscow on June 6. Later, he was charged with attempted drug dealing. 

On June 8, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow put him under house arrest for 2 months.

According to the Interior Ministry’s official statement, police have seized nearly 4 grams of methylmethedrone from Golunov.

The journalist pleads not guilty, insists that the drugs were planted on him during the arrest and claims that his prosecution is related to his journalistic investigations.

According to his defense, an examination showed no drugs in his biomaterial.

The Presidential Council for Human Rights asked Moscow’s prosecutor and chief of the city’s Interior Ministry’s directorate to see to the case of Golunov personally.