OREANDA-NEWS. Levada-Center (Russian independent, non-governmental polling and sociological research organization) carried out a poll of Russian people and found out that the majority of them believe that the practice of planting drugs and falsifying criminal cases is common for the police.

The poll of Levada-Center was primarily linked to the sensational case of Ivan Golunov, the journalist who was accused of drug dealing. The drugs were planted by policemen, this fact was revealed, and some top officials of Moscow police were retired.

According to a sociological survey, 36 % of respondents believe the possibility of serious consequences for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while 55 % are sure that they will not follow.

At the same time 66 % of survey participants believe that drug planting and falsification of cases are common practice among Russian policemen. 18 % of respondents believe that such cases are sporadic.

As for Golunov case, 32 % of survey participants believe that the journalist was released due to the lack of reasons for initiating a criminal case on drug dealing. 29 % of them believe that Golunov’s release was primarily influenced by protests against the arrest and police abuse. 28 % attributed this to the decision of the government to stop the protests before coming Direct Line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an annual special television program of question-and-answer format.

Most Russians (52 %) consider the chances of solving the problem in the case of unjust police prosecution to be “low” and “extremely low”. 9 % of respondents consider themselves to be able to solve such a problem, 28 % believe that their influential friends can help them, 24 % hope for the prosecutor’s office, 19 % hope for the court and human rights organizations, 11 % – on the investigation bodies. 17 % of respondents believe that in case of unfair prosecution there will be no one to help them.