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Ivan Valentinovich Golunov (; born 19 January 1983) is a Russian investigative journalist and anti-corruption reporter currently working for the independent outlet Meduza.
He came to public attention in June 2019 when he was arrested and charged with a drug-related crime by the Moscow city police; he was later released after widespread public outcry, which alleged that the case was fabricated to silence Golunov's investigations into corruption. Golunov's arrest has attracted much attention from the Russian internet and social media community and has spurred criticism of abuse of power by the police.
While working with Meduza, Golunov wrote a number of articles concerning corruption in Russian society. Among them were "The evictors", looking at loan sharks in Moscow, and "The penthouse family", an exposé of corruption in the Moscow mayoral office and the acquisition of a fortune in real estate. Other investigations included 'A roughly painted, cheap fake', about a controversial multi-billion rouble restoration of the Stone Flower Fountain, and 'Musicians remain silent and afraid', concerning the exchange of state assets and links to presidential agencies. His article "A coffin, a cemetery and hundreds of billions of rubles", published in 2017, investigated crime and corruption in the Russian funeral industry. He has twice received the Redkollegia for his work, firstly in October 2017, alongside fellow journalists Aleksandr Borzenko, , and for their article "The 'Christian state' does not exist. But behind it, perhaps, is the FSB"; and in August 2018 for his "A coffin, a cemetery and hundreds of billions of rubles". He was researching a followup to this latter study at the time of his arrest in 2019, looking at connections between funeral businesses in Moscow and the city's Federal Security Service (FSB) department, and had just submitted a draft of the article on the day of his arrest.
Several dozen of Golunov's works (in Russian) about corruption among officials and businessmen in Moscow and other cities and regions were made public at the time of his arrest, and offered for reprint and distribution in order to raise public awareness of the case.
In a press release about the arrest of Golunov and a search of his apartment, the police published a series of photos, eight of which showed a drug lab. These photographs were widely distributed through Telegram instant-messaging channels linked to the police. Soon the police officially confirmed that the photographs were taken in the apartment of the suspect. However, they then admitted that an error had occurred and only one photo was actually taken at Golunov's apartment.
On 8 June, Golunov was sentenced to house arrest until 7 August.
Notwithstanding Golunov's release, a planned but unauthorized rally was held in Moscow in support of him on 12 June. Protesters called to punish those involved in the fabrication of criminal cases. Officers in riot gear attacked protesters. Hundreds of people were detained, including political activist Alexei Navalny and a member of staff from the German magazine Der Spiegel, as well as many Russian journalists.
In July 2023, Golunov said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had paid him 1.5 million rubles in damages following a ruling by the Moscow City Court in December 2022.
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