Russian journalist placed under house arrest over protest
The Russian journalist who first made headlines staging a protest on-air in the opening weeks of the invasion of Ukraine was placed under house arrest Thursday for her involvement in another anti-war action.
A Russian court placed former state-TV producer Marina Ovsyannikova under house arrest for two months, pending an investigation and possible trial on charges she “spread false information” about the country’s military.
Ovsyannikova was arrested after her home was raided Wednesday.
The charges stem from a July protest in which Ovsyannikova publicly held up a sign that read “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a killer, his soldiers are fascists. 352 children have been killed [in Ukraine]. How many more children should die for you to stop?”
If convicted, the journalist faces up to ten years in prison for violating a Russian law forbidding criticism of the military.
In court Thursday, Ovsyannikova held up another sign in protest, this one stating, “Let the murdered children come to you in your dreams at night.”
“Marina became a hostage of her own conscience and a hostage of her love for her children, you see,” her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, said outside of court.
“She cannot be abroad because her children are here, and she cannot stay silent here because she’s a prisoner of her conscience,” Zakhvatov said. “As a mother, she can’t stay silent. She sees what’s going on and it’s making her speak out.”
Ovsyannikova left Russia in April after being fined for protesting the war on air during a newscast on Russia Channel One. She returned in early July, writing on Facebook that she was forced to return to defend her parental rights in court against her husband.
In addition to Wednesday’s arrest, she has been fined twice in recent weeks under Russia’s draconian anti-protest laws — once for a statement posted to Facebook, and once for a statement made at a court hearing for an opposition figure. In both instances, Russian officials allege the journalist spread so-called false information about the Russian military.
With Post wires
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