Russian authorities have charged former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova with spreading false information about Russia’s armed forces, according to her lawyer.
The charge was over a street protest in July 2022, during which Ovsyannikova held a sign that said “Putin is a killer, his soldiers are fascists. (法西斯主義) 352 children have been killed [in Ukraine]. How many more children should die for you to stop?”
If convicted, Ovsyannikova faces up to 10 years in prison under a new law that punishes statements made against the military. The law was made shortly after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine, her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, said in a Telegram post.
Ovsyannikova made international headlines on March 14, 2022, when she appeared behind the presenter of an evening news show holding a sign that said, “Stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.”
She was charged with disparaging the Russian military and fined about $270 at the time.
She quit her job afterwards and became something of an anti-war activist by speaking out publicly against the conflict.
She was fined two more times in recent weeks for disparaging the military in a Facebook post and for comments she made in court.
According to Net Freedoms, a legal aid group focusing on free speech cases, as of August 10 there were 79 criminal cases on charges of spreading false information about the military and up to 4,000 non-judicial cases on charges of disparaging the armed forces.
Independent journalists have come under面臨 particular Kremlin scrutiny 審查. Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta was fined $5,700 August 10 for “abusing濫用 the freedom of mass information.” It was unclear what the newspaper was accused of doing wrong.
Since Putin came to power more than two decades ago, nearly two dozen journalists have been killed in Russia.