Their protest against the war in Ukraine live on Russian television caused a stir. After further disputes with the Kremlin, the journalist Ovsyannikova left the country. Now she has been convicted in absentia.
More than a year and a half after her high-profile protest on live television against the military operation in Ukraine, Russian television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been convicted in absentia on another matter.
Ovzyannikova, charged with “spreading false information,” was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, a Moscow court said. The verdict relates to a protest in July 2022 in which Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin while holding a sign criticizing the war against Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ovsyannikova protested on Russian live TV with a sign against the war in Ukraine.
More sensational protest
In March 2022, Ovsyannikova appeared behind the news anchor during a TV station broadcast and held a protest poster into the camera. In October 2022, the now 45-year-old fled house arrest with her daughter from Russia. According to information in her user account on the online service Instagram, the journalist is currently in France.
“Justice wants to finish me off”
In a statement released before the verdict was announced, she described the allegations against her as “absurd and politically motivated.” The justice system “decided to finish me off because I’m not afraid and I call a spade a spade,” she said. “Of course I don’t admit my guilt. And I don’t deny any of my words. I made a very hard, but the only right moral decision in my life, and I have already paid a high price for it,” Ovsyannikova continued.
Voices critical of the government have been increasingly suppressed in Russia for years. Numerous opposition representatives and ordinary citizens were sentenced to long prison terms. Tens of thousands of Russians, including opposition figures, journalists and civil rights activists, have fled into exile.