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No mass dismissals after Golunov case, says Interior Ministry

Earlier, reports emerged that more than 40 officers had been dismissed in the wake of the case

© Artiom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. The Moscow main branch of the Internal Ministry has rebutted the information that more than 40 officers were sacked in Moscow’s western district’s Internal Affairs office after Meduza news outlet journalist Ivan Golunov had been arrested, the press service for the Main Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow told TASS.

"The information published on certain resources that more than 40 police officers <…> filed their resignations is not true," the press service noted.

Earlier, a number of Telegram channels reports that more than 40 officers had been dismissed after the case of Ivan Golunov.

Ivan Golunov's case

On June 11, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that the criminal case against journalist Ivan Golunov on suspicion of drug trafficking had been dismissed "in view of the failure to prove his participation in the crime." All charges have been dropped, and he will be released from house arrest on June 11. The materials of the internal probe were referred from the Internal Ministry’s security division to the Investigative Committee to review the legitimacy of the actions by the police officers, who had apprehended Golunov. The officers have been suspended.

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Ivan Golunov 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.

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