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Reporter Ivan Golunov
Photo: Pavel Golovkin / DPA
Two years after the scandal surrounding an unjustly accused investigative journalist, five former police officers in Russia have been sentenced to several years' imprisonment.
A court in Moscow found it proven that the men blamed the well-known reporter Ivan Golunov with drugs and then arrested him, according to local media reports.
The arrest of Golunov for alleged drug trafficking led to massive protests in June 2019.
The 38-year-old was released five days later;
the policemen were released.
They had been in custody since January 2020.
According to media reports, one of the police officers has now been sentenced to twelve years in a prison camp.
The court held him to be the mastermind behind the action.
Three former colleagues received eight years' imprisonment.
Another ex-cop received five years' imprisonment - he was the only one who had confessed to the allegations.
All five defendants also have to pay Golunov one million rubles each, the equivalent of around 11,000 euros, in compensation.
Golunow works for the independent news portal »Medusa«.
Among other things, he made headlines with revelations about corruption in Moscow City Hall and the seedy funeral industry in Russia.
Human rights activists repeatedly accuse Russia of silencing critics and opposition activists with fabricated accusations.
asa / AFP