Russian parliament speaker concerned about journalist's case

In this photo taken on Saturday, June 8, 2019, Ivan Golunov, a prominent Russian investigative reporter, who worked for the independent website Meduza, leaves the cage in a court room in Moscow, Russia. Golunov left the courtroom after the ruling to place him under house arrest until Aug. 7. In the court hearing, he denied being involved with drugs and said he would be willing to help investigators. (Evgeny Feldman/meduza.io via AP)

In this photo, Russia's three major newspapers use the same headline that reads: "I'm/we are Ivan Golunov", which is the name of a prominent Russian investigative reporter, who worked for the independent website Meduza, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, June 10, 2019. In a show of rare solidarity, Kommersant, Vedomosti and RBK, among the most respected daily newspapers in the country, published a joint editorial under the headline "I am/We are Ivan Golunov," calling for a transparent probe into the case of the prominent investigative journalist. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

MOSCOW – The speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament has raised concerns about a drug dealing case against a prominent investigative journalist.

Valentina Matviyenko, who is Russia's third most senior official after the president and prime minister, on Tuesday described the criminal inquiry into Ivan Golunov as "a really bad story." She said that she spoke to the prosecutor general who promised to take the case under his personal control.

Golunov, who works for the independent website Meduza, was beaten and kept in custody for 12 hours without a lawyer after he was stopped by police in Moscow on Thursday, according to his lawyer. He was transferred to house arrest following a public outpouring of support, but he still faces drug dealing charges.