Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova was arrested on Wednesday, August 10, after a police search at her home in Moscow, Russia. That same morning, she gave an interview to franceinfo in which she reiterated her opposition to the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Famous for interrupting a Russian state broadcaster’s newspaper, she had already received two administrative penalties in the past two weeks for her stance against military intervention. This time, the case is even more serious, as a criminal case has been opened against him for “spreading false information about the Russian army.” This crime carries a penalty of up to fifteen years in prison.
>> Against the war in Ukraine, “every voice raised from Russia is very important,” insists journalist Marina Ovsiannikova
“At 6 a.m., while I was still sleeping, ten members of the investigative committee and the police broke into my apartment,” Marina Ovsiannikova wrote on Telegram. Investigators blame her for a July 15 demonstration in front of the Kremlin, in which she accused Vladimir Putin of a “murderer” and mentioned the children who had died in Ukraine. “More than 350 dead children in Ukraine, are they fake?” she claimed this Tuesday morning. “How many more children have to die for you to stop?”
Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova during a protest in front of the Kremlin, July 15, 2022, Sofia Embankment in Moscow (Russia). (MARINA OVSIANNIKOVA / TELEGRAM)
Marina Ovsyannikova’s lawyer, Dmitri Zakhvatov, confirmed this information to franceinfo. “I asked the police to wait for my arrival for the search, which I was denied,” he explains. The journalist was transferred to the committee’s offices at the end of the search, which led to the confiscation of phones and a computer.
In Russia, dozens of people are already being prosecuted for “misinformation” about the army. In early July, Moscow City Councilor Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison on similar charges, under laws that came into effect after the war began. Opponent Vladimir Kara-Muza and city councilor Ilya Iashin are also in custody.
The former journalist from “Première Chaîne” worked for the medium Die Welt in Germany for three months before returning to Moscow in early July. “Every voice that is raised against the war from Russia is very important,” Marina Ovsiannikova told franceinfo in an interview published on Wednesday. “If someone inside Russia speaks out against the war, it’s much louder than abroad.”