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Russian officials said Wednesday that the former state television chief resigned after conducting an on-air protest against the Moscow war in Ukraine where a house raid followed. Her lawyer, who raided the journalist's home, said on social media that she had filed criminal charges against her for spreading false information about the Russian military.
The case against Marina Ovsyanikova was launched under a law penalizing speech against the military enacted after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, said lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov. Her conviction carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Zakhbatov told the independent news site Medusa that the incident was marked by a banner reading "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a murderer and his soldiers are fascists." He said it was likely related to the Ovsyanikova protests staged last month.
He said on her Telegram that after the raid on her home, Ovsyannikova was to be taken before a commission of inquiry for her questioning.
Ovsyannikova worked as a producer on the Russian national channel She-One. She appeared behind the anchor on her March 14th nightly newscast, carrying a poster that read, "Stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, it's lying here," on her international press conference. made headlines. She was charged with defaming the Russian military and she was fined 30,000 rubles (at the time she was $270).
After leaving her job, Ovsyannikova became somewhat activist, campaigning against the war and voicing her opposition to the conflict.
She has been accused of defaming the military in critical Facebook posts and comments in court where opposition leader Ilya Yashin was remanded on charges of spreading false information about the military. I was fined two more times in a week.
As of Wednesday, there were 79 criminal cases for spreading false information about the military and defaming the military, according to Net Freedoms, a free speech-focused legal aid group. There were up to 4,000 administrative cases for defamation charges. Power.
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