MOSCOW, June 13 (RAPSI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed two generals of police on the back of the recent arrest of Ivan Golunov, a journalist from Meduza news website.
Earlier, Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that the internal investigation’s records were forwarded from the Interior Ministry’s internal affairs department to the Investigative Committee to assess the legality of actions of police officers, who arrested Golunov. Unless the check is finished, they are suspended from their posts, he stated.
Golunov was arrested in Moscow on June 6. On June 8, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow placed him under house arrest for 2 months. According to the Interior Ministry’s official statement, police seized nearly 4 grams of methylmethedrone from Golunov.
The journalist pleaded not guilty, insisted that the drugs were planted on him during the arrest and claimed that his prosecution is related to his journalistic investigations.
According to his defense, an examination showed no drugs in his biomaterial.
On June 11, charges against Golunov were dropped because of a lack of evidence that he participated in the crime, and the journalist was released.