Ex-police officers in Golunov case sentenced to between 5 and 12 years in prison
On May 28, the Moscow City Court handed down sentences to the former police officers accused of fabricating a criminal case against Meduza correspondent Ivan Golunov.
Meduza’s correspondent reported from the courtroom that Igor Lyakhovets, the key figure involved in Ivan Golunov’s illegal arrest, was given a 12-year prison sentence. His former subordinates, Roman Feofanov, Maxim Umetbaev, and Akbar Sergaliev, were each sentenced to eight years in prison.
Denis Konovalov, who pleaded guilty, was given a five-year prison sentence.
In addition, the defendants in the case have been stripped of their titles and are banned from holding positions in law enforcement agencies for a four-year period after their release from prison.
The court also satisfied a civil claim, ordering the recovery of 1 million rubles (about $13,600) from the defendants.
The court allowed the time the defendants have already spent in pre-trial detention (since January 29, 2020) to count toward their prison sentences.
Prosecutors had requested a 16-year prison sentence for Lyakhovets, 12 years each for Feofanov, Umetbaev, and Sergaliev, and seven years for Konovalov.
The former police officers were convicted of abuse of office, falsifying evidence, and drug trafficking. Aside from Konovalov, none of the defendants in the case fully pleaded guilty.
Read more about the Golunov case
- ‘Exposing’ Golunov The ex-cops who tried to frame a Meduza journalist for drug dealing defend themselves in court by going after him again
- ‘Drinking heroin’ The witnesses against Meduza correspondent Ivan Golunov were part of a setup. Here’s how Russia’s police abuse a system that empowers them to jail virtually anyone.
- ‘Learn to read’ Russian state news agency spreads false information about the Golunov case
- ‘So what’d you write?’ Ivan Golunov tells ‘Meduza’ about life as an investigative journalist in Russia today and being framed for drug dealing
- Support Ivan Golunov by republishing his work We've released Ivan Golunov's writing for ‘Meduza’ under a Creative Commons license
The Golunov case
Meduza special correspondent Ivan Golunov was arrested in Moscow on June 6, 2019, on suspicion of attempted drug trafficking. He maintained that he wasn’t guilty and insisted that the drugs had been planted on him. Following a large-scale public campaign in support of Golunov, the criminal case against the journalist was dropped on June 11. Golunov has since become a victim in the case, in which he was previously a defendant.