Russian journalist calls for tormentors to be jailed: ‘I need to know if it’s safe for me to stay here’

Five months on, charges are yet to be brought against corrupt officers who framed Ivan Golunov on bogus drugs charges – despite strong condemnation from Vladimir Putin

Security fears mean Ivan Golunov has been unable to return to his reporting (Oliver Carroll)

Ivan Golunov, the 36-year old investigative journalist charged on bogus drug-dealing offences, should, by normal reasoning, be in prison now.

When the teeth of Russian justice snapped into motion following his arrest on 6 June, all odds were stacked against him. In Russia, more than 99 per cent of cases to reach court end in convictions. For Mr Golunov, a guilty verdict meant up to 20 years in a correctional camp.

But when the journalist was brought to court two days later – tired and exhausted after being deprived of food and sleep – a most extraordinary thing happened. The presiding judge rejected the prosecution’s request to extend custody. Instead, Mr Golunov was released on house arrest, with charges later dropped completely.

Mr Golunov cried that day in court. Not, he tells The Independent, because he thought a lot about what 20 years in prison could mean; that he would be released at 56 years of age, an old man. That frightening realisation came later.

No, the tears flowed from the cheers that he could hear from the supporters on the streets outside. “I didn’t expect the scale of the support,” he says.

That pressure from the street was one element of a perfect confluence of factors that culminated in his release. High-level representations were another. But arguably the crucial moment was when bosses in the Kremlin realised they were being lied to about the evidence.

In late June, President Putin was uncharacteristically straight in condemning Mr Golunov’s ordeal. At his annual “direct line” phone-in, he described the journalist’s arrest as “unjust” and he called for an investigation. “It is simply an abuse of power,” the president said.

And yet, five months on, no arrests or charges have been brought.

On Monday, a Kremlin spokesperson said the investigation needed more time. The Independent understands that, on the contrary, state investigators have already determined the exact chain of command, the personalities involved, and the cause – Mr Golunov’s reporting about Moscow’s corrupt funeral business. That connected top secret-service officers to mafia groups controlling the sector.

Instead, the investigation has apparently been placed on hold for nearly two months, pending a decision from above about how to proceed.

Mr Golunov, who is under police protection 24/7, and wears a bulletproof vest when appearing in public, refuses to be drawn on the details of the investigation.

“I want to leave law enforcement to do their job,” he says. “I have no complaints about their work and I want them to be proud of their job.”

But the journalist says his case highlights a fundamental “conflict” within the Russian elite. A culture of corruption, lies and covering peoples’ backs rotted from the lowest levels of government, he says, to the extent that the system resembled a “house of cards”.

The police officers assigned to the operation did not realise who they were arresting, says Mr Golunov. But it was clearly not the first time they had planted drugs on someone: “Everything about the operation was automatic, routine. It was second nature to these guys.”

The day after his arrest, Moscow police made a series of remarkable claims about a “drugs laboratory” in Mr Golunov’s flat. They produced staged photographs, which were apparently passed up the chain without much thought. They also told chiefs in the Kremlin that there was video evidence when it didn’t actually exist.

In the event, incompetence proved to be the crooked officers’ undoing. Had they conducted a basic search about who Mr Golunov was, they might have thought twice before going down the road they did. It certainly did not take long for the journalist’s friends – some of Russia’s brightest investigators – to prove the photographs were faked.

By the same token, had senior police managers bothered to check the evidence base, they would probably have been spared the Kremlin’s red anger. And Mr Golunov would almost certainly be in jail.

“The problem is that system is built on money,” the journalist says. “People are judging their careers based on how much they can steal. A sense of corporate solidarity feeds the cycle of lies and disinformation. There is a total loss of control.”

Mr Golunov’s release represented an unprecedented victory of justice over such anarchy. It also turned him into a reluctant protest symbol. The journalist is recognised on the streets. In airports. Recently, he was chased down by a group of tourists in a Spanish forest.

The notoriously shy journalist says he is embarrassed by the fuss. He isn’t a “natural activist”, he says, and would much prefer to stay in the background.

But his own future now directly depends on the Russian system changing fast. In the first instance, by charging and convicting those who stood behind his arrest and multiple death threats.

“Putin sent a clear and I believe sincere signal that the corrupt officers should be brought to justice,” Mr Golunov says.

“I want to live in Russia. But I need to know if it’s safe for me to stay here. I can’t live with bodyguards forever.”