Putin Calls For Tighter Control Over Law Enforcement To Avert Cases Like Golunov Arrest

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his annual "Direct Line" Q&A session on Thursday, called for steps to ensure tighter control over actions of law enforcement agencies to prevent cases similar to the one of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, who had been first arrested on drugs offense charges but later released over lack of sufficient evidence against him

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his annual "Direct Line" Q&A session on Thursday, called for steps to ensure tighter control over actions of law enforcement agencies to prevent cases similar to the one of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, who had been first arrested on drugs offense charges but later released over lack of sufficient evidence against him.

Putin mentioned Golunov's case while answering a question whether Russia should ease punishment on drug offense charges.

"Should we liberalize these activities ... In my view, no, because the threat to our country, nation, our people is very great. Therefore, if a person possesses illegally, transports or distributes even small doses of drugs, they should bear responsibility for this and there cannot be any liberalization in this case.

Another issue is that we need to ensure control over actions of law enforcement agencies so that there are no offences on their part, so that there is no need to report on statistics and people are not put in prison just to 'check the box,' so that there are no cases as the one of journalist [Golunov]," Putin said.

He recalled that several generals had been dismissed in light of Golunov's case.

"I hope that necessary investigative actions will be carried out to identify all those responsible for this abnormal situation," Putin added.