Russian journalist speaks after being fined
Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova fined after anti-war protest during state news broadcast 01:53
Paris prosecutors have opened an investigation into the suspected poisoning of a Russian journalist who made headlines last year when she brandished an anti-Ukraine war slogan on state television.
Marina Ovsiannikova reportedly told police that she felt unwell when she opened the door to her Paris apartment on Thursday and noticed a powdery substance. Forensic police were sent to examine her house.
Paris-based Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire reported on social media that the journalist felt better in the afternoon but was still under medical supervision.
Former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova attends a press conference in Paris, France, on February 10, 2023. Christophe Ena/AP
The international nonprofit was instrumental in getting the 44-year-old journalist and her 12-year-old daughter out of Russia late last year as they fled fearing for their lives.
Ovsiannikova, a reporter at the Perviy Kanal television station, became an instant pariah in Russia in March 2022 when she appeared on the screen behind a news anchor waving a poster about the Ukraine war that read: “Stop the war, don’t believe this.” “ Propaganda, they are lying to you here.
Just last week, a court in Moscow sentenced Ovsiannikova in absentia to 8 1/2 years in prison for protesting against the war.
In 2022, Russia passed a law making anyone it believes spread “false” information about the war in Ukraine face up to 15 years in prison.
Top Kremlin critics have been given long prison sentences, independent news sites have been blocked and independent journalists have left the country for fear of prosecution.
Among the most prominent dissidents imprisoned in Russia is opposition leader Alexey Navlany, whom a Russian court convicted of promoting “extremism” and extended his already long prison term by 19 years.
Navalny spent five months in Germany recovering from a poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin – a claim Russian officials have always denied.
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