Status: 10/17/2022 3:17 p.m
The Russian journalist Ovsyannikova has left the country. She became known through her protest against the Ukraine war during a live broadcast. Most recently, she was under house arrest and was due to be brought to justice.
The Russian television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who became known for her television protest against the Russian attack on Ukraine, has fled Russia with her daughter. “Ovzyannikova and her daughter have left Russia,” her lawyer Dmitry Sakhatov told AFP. “They are in Europe now. They are fine.”
According to her lawyer, before fleeing abroad, Ovsyannikova had left the apartment where she had been under house arrest in Russia since August. Ovsyannikova will publicly comment on her escape at a later date, “but it’s not certain at the moment,” Sakhatov said.
Two weeks ago, Ovzyannikova was put on a wanted list in Russia, suggesting the 44-year-old had gone into hiding.
Charges were brought against Ovzyannikova in August for “spreading misinformation” about the Russian army. You face up to ten years in prison. A Moscow court placed the journalist under house arrest until her trial began. She was also not allowed to use any means of communication.
Known for protesting during live broadcast
The journalist on the First Channel of Russian state television, who had previously been considered loyal to the line, held an anti-war poster into the camera in a news program in mid-March. After that she stayed abroad for a few months and worked for the German newspaper “Die Welt”.
In July, Ovzyannikova returned to Russia to fight for custody of her two minor children, which her ex-husband, who lives in Russia, wanted to take from her. In mid-July, within sight of the Kremlin, she again protested against the war with a banner.