MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: The Kremlin has no plans to interfere in the Russian Investigative Committee’s work in the case of Meduza news website reporter Ivan Golunov, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"There is no need to set such a task," Peskov said, when asked if the president had handed down instructions to identify the mastermind behind evidence tampering in the case. "The Investigative Committee is conducting an investigation," the Kremlin spokesman said, adding: "Work is underway and we currently have neither the intention nor the capability to interfere in it."
Peskov pointed out that the investigation’s goal "is to establish all the circumstances and identify those responsible for violating the law."
An Investigative Committee spokesperson earlier told TASS that five former officers from the police force of Moscow’s Western Administrative District had been brought to the Investigative Committee’s office for questioning in the case. According to a law enforcement source, former Chief of the Western Administrative District’s Police Drug Control Unit Andrei Shchirov was detained in the case on suspicion of abuse of office, as well as former detectives from the Western Administrative District’s police force Roman Feofanov, Maxim Umetbayev, Akbar Sergaliyev and Denis Konovalov.
While speaking to TASS on Wednesday, Golunov was hopeful that a trial against the former police officers would be fair. "I am pleased to see progress in the case but justice will be done when there is a court ruling. I hope it will be a fair one," the reporter said.
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.
