Ivan Golunov was charged with 'intent to distribute' a synthetic amphetamine.
On 6/7/19 at 10:50 AM EDTOne of Russia's best-known investigative journalists, who has exposed numerous corruption scandals in the country, has been arrested on what his lawyer says are trumped up charges.
Golunov was about to meet a contact in central Moscow on Thursday afternoon when he was approached by two plain-clothes officers. They took him in for questioning but did not give him access to a telephone or a lawyer,At the station, one officer opened his backpack and found a package which they claimed contained the synthetic amphetamine mephedrone. Bags of the drug were also found in his apartment, police claimed.
"I was lying on the ground at the bottom of the stairs when I was dragged along. Maxim put his foot on my chest and one of his colleagues punched me on the cheek," he said, according to Meduza.Dmitry Djulai, Golunov's lawyer, told BBC Russian that police had planted the drugs on his client to frame him.
In a statement, Meduza CEO Galina Timchenko said:"We are convinced that Ivan Golunov is innocent. Moreover, we have reason to believe he's been targeted because of his work as a journalist. We know that Ivan has received threats in recent months, and we think we know from whom.
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