14 Jun 2019 18:18

Journalist Golunov to insist on reversal of court decision on his house arrest

MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov, who has been cleared of attempted drug dealing, said he will seek the reversal of the court decision to put him under house arrest.

"I will insist that the court decision should be reversed so that the judicial system approaches decisions on such articles more responsibly in the future," Golunov told reporters.

On Friday, the Moscow City Court declined to hear the defense lawyers' appeal against Golunov's house arrest and declined the defense lawyers' motion to return the "arrest" case to the first-instance court for familiarization of the protocol of the hearing on the selection of a measure of restraint for him and on making additions to the appeal.

"I have found myself in a very strange situation, when the head of an investigative group believes I am not involved in the case, but the court ruling has not been reversed," Golunov said.

Golunov, a correspondent of the Latvia-based Russian-language online media outlet Meduza, was detained by police officers on Moscow's Tsvetnoi Boulevard on June 6. The Moscow police department reported finding drugs on Golunov and in his apartment. The journalist was charged with an attempt to sell a large amount of drugs. The Moscow Nikulinsky District Court on June 8 ordered his house arrest until August 7.

The journalist said in court he considers himself innocent and links his prosecution to his reports and said the drugs had been planted on him.

Golunov was released on Tuesday, June 11, after a broad public campaign in his defense. The charges against him were dropped due to absence of evidence of a crime.