Russian Investigators Interrogating Five Ex-Police Officers Over Journalist Golunov Case

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published January 29, 2020 | 12:51 PM

Five former police officers from a Moscow unit of the Department of Internal Affairs are currently being interrogated over the case of Russian journalist Ivan Golunov, the Investigative Committee's spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, told Sputnik on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2020) Five former police officers from a Moscow unit of the Department of Internal Affairs are currently being interrogated over the case of Russian journalist Ivan Golunov, the Investigative Committee's spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Golunov, working for Meduza news outlet and known for covering corruption-related stories, was detained in June after the police found drugs in his possession. The journalist maintained that the drugs had been planted on him in retaliation for his investigative work.

Charges were later dropped amid a public backlash due to lack of evidence.

"Within the framework of the so-called Ivan Golunov case, fiver former officers from the drug trafficking control unit of the Department of Internal Affairs for Moscow's Western Administrative District have been taken to the building of the Russian Investigative Committee. Investigators are currently interrogating them," Petrenko said.

As violations were detected, several law enforcement agents were dismissed in light of Golunov's case, and five police officers faced criminal accusations.