MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. As of Wednesday night, four out of 200 people detained during an unauthorized rally in Moscow in support of Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov remain at police station, the rest were released, Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Moscow said.
"Four citizens, subjected to administrative arrest under article 27.5 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses, remain at police stations. The rest were released," a police spokesperson said.
Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny was among those released. A co-organizer of the rally, journalist Ilya Azar, who was detained at Moscow’s Hermitage Garden earlier on Wednesday, was also freed.
Earlier, a police source told TASS that about 1,200 people gathered for an unsanctioned rally in downtown Moscow in support of Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov, and 200 of them were detained for administrative offenses.
More than 30 journalists, including at least 11 journalists who covered the event upon editorial assignment, were among the detainees, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"I call on the authorities to release all detained journalists and take swift steps to ensure restraint of force on the part of law enforcement representatives toward members of the media," OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir said in a statement. "Media must be able to provide coverage of public events without hindrance, in a free and safe manner."
Members of the Russian Human Rights Council’s permanent commission on media and journalists’ rights also condemned the detentions and vowed support to those who covered the rally upon editorial assignment.
The statement says that while ensuring public order and safety at mass events, law-enforcement agencies "should keep in mind the Russian constitution and the citizens’ right for peaceful assembly, as well as the journalists’ right to cover events."
The June 12 rally had been announced before Golunov’s release and the statement by Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev that the journalist was cleared of charges. Golunov said he would not attend the unauthorized event and it’s better to do things that really matter. The city authorities had earlier authorized a rally on Sakharov Avenue on June 16, explaining that on Wednesday Moscow holds cultural events devoted to celebrating Russia Day.
Golunov, a reporter of the Meduza media outlet, walked free on Tuesday after police had dropped criminal charges against him amid claims that he was framed. The journalist was taken into custody on June 6. According to the Interior Ministry’s main Moscow office, Golunov was carrying four grams of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug, while five grams of cocaine were found during a search of his rented apartment. Subsequently, he was charged with drug dealing, whereupon Moscow’s Nikulinsky District Court placed the journalist under house arrest. Golunov denied all the accusations from the beginning, and his defense attorney believed that the prohibited substances had been planted.
On Tuesday, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev announced that criminal charges against Golunov had been dropped over the failure to prove his involvement in the crime. The officers, who had detained Golunov, were suspended. The journalist’s detention has sparked a public outcry and his colleagues have been holding pickets outside the Interior Ministry’s building in Moscow demanding his release.