Russian Journalist Golunov Receives Apology From Prosecutor Over False Charges

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov said on Friday that he had received a letter from a Moscow prosecutor with a formal apology for the ordeal he had endured when he was wrongly accused of selling drugs.

"I received a letter from the prosecutor of Moscow’s Western District," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding that the wording was formal and lacked sincerity.

The 37-year-old reporter had complained to the chief prosecutor that he was not apologised to after being beaten and briefly jailed in June by Moscow police on charges that were proven groundless.

The journalist was detained while in possession of drugs that he said were planted on him by police, prompting a national outcry. A probe into how his case was handled has cost two senior police officials their jobs and led to criminal charges against five officers.