From Prison to Psychiatry. There is no peace for RusNews’ Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who has been arrested and jailed since April for discrediting Russian forces. Posting on social media about the war in Ukraine, the reporter denounced the Russian attack on the theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March that killed hundreds of civilians. A version that did not please the Russian authorities at all, who decided to stop them. Days after his denunciations, the Russian Defense Ministry stepped in and also denied Kyiv’s allegations, specifying that they did not stick to reality. Before his arrest, the reporter also covered the anti-war protests in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
According to the lawyer Sergei Podolsky – reports Radio Liberty – the reporter, who is a mother of two small children, will stay in the Altai Clinical Psychological Hospital for 28 days.
An activist reported that the woman has been barred from correspondence and meetings with relatives while she can see a lawyer.
The allegations against Ponomarenko are based on the famous media gag law, passed by Russian authorities in March, which provides for severe penalties of up to 15 years in prison for publishing alleged fake news about Russian activities abroad. If found guilty, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
Ponomarenko is not the first reporter to be caught in the crosshairs of the Russian judiciary. In March, the story of Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who wrote the famous anti-war blitz on the Vremya evening news, caused a sensation, was attacked and labeled a spy, then arrested and eventually released. He now lives abroad and has confided that he will not return to his country while Putin is in power.
But Ponomarenko and Ovsyannikova are not the only cases. Indeed, many newspapers and independent media critical of the Kremlin have been condemned, crushed by Putin’s iron fist, intended to crush dissent and opposition.