Russia has detained an investigative journalist for drugs offences, triggering protests on Friday, with supporters claiming the charges were trumped-up and a punishment for his reporting.
Meduza, an independent Russian-language media outlet, said that one of its reporters, Ivan Golunov, was detained in central Moscow on Thursday and police have opened a probe into allegations that he manufactured and dealt drugs.
A police spokesman did not name the suspect, but said a 36-year-old man had been detained with five packages of mephedrone, a designer drug.
Golunov’s supporters claimed the drugs had been planted on him.
The journalist faces a possible jail sentence of between 10 and 20 years, if convicted, according to Meduza editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov.
“We have reasons to believe that Golunov is being persecuted for his journalistic work,” Kolpakov and Meduza’s general director, Galina Timchenko, said in a statement.
In his work, Golunov investigated everything from Russia’s shady funeral industry to corruption in Moscow city hall.
Reporters Without Borders warned Golunov’s arrest could mark “a significant escalation in the persecution” of independent journalists in Russia.
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