• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Russian Investigative Reporter Placed Under House Arrest Pending Trial On Drug Charges

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
DP Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
111,835
Reaction score
102,074
Location
Barsoom
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
Russian Investigative Reporter Placed Under House Arrest Pending Trial On Drug Charges

Golunov has long been a thorn in the side of Russia's power center after repeatedly exposing business people and political figures, as well as uncovering fraudulent financial schemes in Moscow.

skynews-ivan-golunov-russia_4690396.jpg

Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov.

6/8/19
MOSCOW -- Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, who was arrested in Moscow on June 6 on suspicion of selling narcotics, has been ordered confined to house arrest pending his trial. A Moscow court on June 8 sanctioned Golunov's arrest and rejected a request from prosecutors that he be held in a remand prison. He faces charges of the attempted "large-scale" distribution of illegal drugs and could face a prison term of 10 to 20 years if convicted. Golunov maintains his innocence and says the accusations against him have been trumped up as punishment for his reporting on corruption among high-level Russian officials. The 36-year-old reporter for the Latvia-based independent Meduza news site was detained by police in downtown Moscow on June 6. Authorities said they found packets of the designer drug mephedrone in his backpack. In a statement on June 7, Moscow police said a later search of Golunov's apartment turned up more drugs and some scales.

Dmitry Dzhulai, Golunov's lawyer, said he believed police had planted the drugs on his client to frame him. He said Golunov had been beaten and that police had refused to take swabs from his hands or the backpack to see if the journalist had been in contact with drugs. Chikov said a doctor who treated Golunov feared he may have broken ribs, a concussion, and a hematoma. Golunov has investigated high-level corruption among Moscow officials, and Meduza says it believes the case is linked to his work. Russia opposition politician and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksei Navalny said he has "no doubt" that Golunov's detention was politically motivated. Navalny said it was an attempt by Moscow authorities to silence the journalist ahead of regional elections in September. Reporters Without Borders warned that Golunov's arrest could mark "a significant escalation in the persecution" of independent journalists in Russia. The director of Amnesty International’s office in Russia also expressed concern. “The circumstances of Ivan Golunov's detention sound dubious and follow a depressingly familiar pattern.... Everything indicates that the authorities are planting drugs on their targets to shut them up with a jail sentence," said Natalia Zviagina.
Click to expand...

One of the favorite tools of the Russian FSB to silence journalists is the arrest for possession of either drugs or top secret documents.

In such cases, the Putin regime choreographs everything in advance; the ballyhooed arrest, the charges, the kangaroo trial, and the prison sentence.

Related: Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov hospitalized 2 days after his arrest
 
In all fairness, Americans have also been arrested on bogus drug charges, with the drugs being planted by the police.

I admire his courage.

I do not admire his arrogance. Did he actually think that President Putin would allow him to investigate corruption?

Hopefully, some quiet international diplomacy can get him released and flown to the West.
 
TheParser said:
In all fairness, Americans have also been arrested on bogus drug charges, with the drugs being planted by the police.

I admire his courage.

I do not admire his arrogance. Did he actually think that President Putin would allow him to investigate corruption?

Hopefully, some quiet international diplomacy can get him released and flown to the West.
Click to expand...
What alternate universe do you inhabit? His arrogance? This journalist risked his life, knowing full well the outcome that befell many other journalists for reporting the truth on this corrupt regime. He is a true hero to the people of Russia.

Then you try to excuse this authoritarian measure by alluding to events in our past which were not analogous. Shameful.

There Will be no diplomacy to free this man, Trump doesn't care about journalists, especially those that report on corruption. Nor would Russia give up this prisoner as it would reveal he is not actually guilt of the charges he was arrested for, and further indicate that there were corrupt charges.

Get a clue.
 
TrueScotsman said:
What alternate universe do you inhabit? His arrogance? This journalist risked his life, knowing full well the outcome that befell many other journalists for reporting the truth on this corrupt regime. He is a true hero to the people of Russia.

Then you try to excuse this authoritarian measure by alluding to events in our past which were not analogous. Shameful.

There Will be no diplomacy to free this man, Trump doesn't care about journalists, especially those that report on corruption. Nor would Russia give up this prisoner as it would reveal he is not actually guilt of the charges he was arrested for, and further indicate that there were corrupt charges.

Get a clue.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Both Putin and Trump view investigative journalists as "Enemies of the People".
 
D8piElPWkAUahVz.jpg


At midnight in Moscow, journalists are still picketing for Ivan Golunov.


D8pbF_lWwAUm5Ez.jpg


You are jailing the wrong ones.
 
Rogue Valley said:
D8piElPWkAUahVz.jpg


D8pbF_lWwAUm5Ez.jpg


You are jailing the wrong ones.
Click to expand...

A quick note on the pictures above. Single-person pickets/protests do not require a government permit in Russia as do all other protests. So Russian journalists took turns holding up their poster in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. They did this for 48 straight hours, night and day. And they published pictures of these single protests in the leading newspapers. The Kremlin felt this very public criticism.

Well done.
 
Looks like the Kremlin pushed the envelope too far this time. Better said it looks like the civil society of Russia had enough of that envelope being pushed at all.

Well done, Russia.

As a side note, if this absolutely amateurish attempt by the authorities to frame Golunov doesn't raise some eyebrows with those still denying Russian involvement in Salisbury, all on account of no Russian agents possibly being as stupid as those revealed, here we have an example to what the Kremlin's thugs have declined to.

Total dumbwits in their arrogant belief of being able to get away with just about everything.

But in the case of Golunov and the Russian people, fortunately so.
 
Police Detain Over 400 at Moscow Protest March in Support of Journalist | The Moscow Times

"It’s a cruelly efficient system of intimidation and persecution, and Golunov’s case is far from the first."

r

Russian journalists under arrest being escorted to a police transport bus. Their shirts say "I/We are Ivan Golunov.

6/12/19
Russian police detained over 400 people on Wednesday at a protest march in Moscow calling for punishment of police officers involved in the alleged framing of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, the OVD-Info monitoring group has said. Among the detained is opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his press secretary Kira Yarmush tweeted. Several journalists have also been detained, Russian media reported. Police abruptly dropped drugs charges a day earlier against journalist Ivan Golunov, a rare U-turn by the authorities in the face of anger from his supporters who said he was framed for his reporting. But Golunov's supporters decided to go ahead with a protest on Wednesday, which had not been authorized by the authorities. Golunov's detention last week led to a national outcry among Russian journalists and human rights activists, who described it as a case against media freedom. His colleagues at the Meduza news website had said they believed the evidence against him was fabricated as punishment for his investigations.

The crude way supporters said Golunov was set up and detained triggered an unusual show of media unity and an uncharacteristically swift reversal from authorities nervous about social unrest at a time when President Vladimir Putin already faces disquiet over living standards. Under Russian law, the time and place of protests involving more than one person needs to be agreed with the authorities in advance. Organisers of Wednesday's event had demanded that Moscow city officials negotiate those terms with them during a live broadcast, something officials refused to do.
Click to expand...

The ugly true face of the Putin regime is on naked display here for all who care to see.

Related: Russian officials tried to frame Ivan Golunov. Instead they made him a hero
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom