Marina Ovsyannikova: Russia charges journalist who protested Ukraine war live on TV

Sarah Harvey11 August 2022

A Russian journalist who staged a TV protest about the war in Ukraine was charged on Wednesday with spreading false information about the Russian army, an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The charges relate to a protest last month, when Marina Ovsyannikova held up an anti-war placard on the Moskva river embankment opposite the Kremlin and posted images of the protest on her Telegram channel.

Ovsyannikova, who was born in Ukraine, came to international prominence in March by walking out in front of studio cameras with an anti-war placard during a live evening news broadcast on Russia's flagship Channel One.

She has since been arrested and fined several times for her continued opposition to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

She had announced earlier on Wednesday that federal investigators had forced their way into her house at 6 am to conduct a search before taking her away to charge her.

Speaking to journalists outside the investigators' office, the lawyer said Ovsyannikova was holding up well. He said the new law, which allows people to be detained for picketing, showed that Russia's judicial system was in "complete default."

According to Net Freedoms, a legal aid group focusing on free speech cases, as of Wednesday there were 79 criminal cases on charges of spreading false information about the military and up to 4,000 administrative cases on charges of disparaging the armed forces.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in