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Russian Investigation Committee requests arrest of ex-policemen in reporter Golunov’s case

According to investigators, police officers illegally purchased drugs and planted them on Golunov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Russian Investigation Committee has requested Moscow’s Basmanny District Court to arrest five former officers from the police force of Moscow’s Western Administrative District detained in the case of Meduza news website reporter Ivan Golunov, a court spokesperson told TASS, adding that charges had been brought against all of them.

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Investigative Committee reveals ex-cops illegally bought drugs to frame journalist Golunov

"The Basmanny Court has received the investigation’s request to arrest Roman Feofanov, Maxim Umetbayev, Akbar Sergaliyev, Igor Lyakhovets and Denis Konovalov, charged with abuse of office, evidence tampering and drug trafficking," the spokesperson said.

The Investigative Committee’s spokesperson, in turn, confirmed that investigators had brought charges against Konovalov, Sergaliyev, Feofanov, Umetbayev and Lyakhovets.

According to investigators, police officers illegally purchased drugs and planted them on Golunov in June 2019. A law enforcement source told TASS that former Chief of the Western Administrative District’s Police Drug Control Unit Andrei Shchirov had been questioned as a witness in the case.

Golunov case

Golunov was detained in downtown Mocsow on June 6. According to police, the reporter was carrying four grams of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug, while five grams of cocaine were found during a search of his rented apartment. Moscow’s Nikulinsky District Court placed the journalist under house arrest. Golunov’s lawyer said that the drugs could have been planted on his client. All charges were eventually dropped on June 11 and Golunov was set free.

President Vladimir Putin said at his annual news conference in December that Russia’s Investigative Committee had opened criminal cases against five former police officers following Golunov’s detention.

While speaking to TASS on Wednesday, Golunov was hopeful that a trial against the former police officers would be fair.

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