Detained Russian Investigative Reporter Appears In Court

A prominent Russian investigative journalist has formally been charged with drug offenses in a case that Russian and international journalists and rights organization say is trumped up to punish him for his reporting. Ivan Golunov was charged with the attempted "large-scale" sale of narcotics, according to rights lawyer Pavel Chikov of the legal-aid group Agora, whose staff is defending the reporter. Golunov appeared in a Moscow court on June 8, where a judge was expected to rule on the length and manner of Golunov's pretrial detention. Golunov, a reporter for the Latvia-based independent Meduza news site, was detained by police in downtown Moscow on June 6. Authorities said they found packets of mephedrone, a designer drug, in his backpack, an accusation the reporter denies.