Russian anti-corruption journalist detained over alleged drug offenses

An investigative reporter for independent Russian-language news website Meduza has been arrested over alleged drug dealing, police said Friday.

Ivan Golunov, 36, was on his way to meet a source when he was detained in central Moscow on Thursday and a package containing drugs was found in his backpack, according to the Latvia-based Meduza news site.

In a statement, Moscow police said a search of Golunov's apartment had produced more drugs and some scales, and that they had opened a criminal investigation.

Dmitry Dzhulai, Golunov's lawyer, told Reuters that he believed police had planted the drugs on his client to frame him.

He said that Golunov had been beaten, and that police had refused to take swabs from his hands or the rucksack or take fingernail samples to see if he had been in contact with drugs.

"He was detained at 2:30 p.m. yesterday and I only got a call at 4:30 a.m.," Dzhulai said.

The editorial management of Meduza denounced Golunov's arrest, saying they believed he was intentionally targeted.

"Ivan Golunov is one of Russia's most famous investigative journalists," the publication's general director, Galina Timchenko, and its editor-in-chief, Ivan Kolpakov, said in a statement.

"We have reasons to believe that Golunov is being persecuted for his journalistic work," they said, adding that the journalist had been receiving threats in recent months in connection with a story he was working on.

Golunov is well known in Russia for his investigations into graft in the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

If he is found guilty of large-scale drug selling, Golunov could be jailed for up to 20 years.