Journalist Marina Ovsiannikova has been placed on the wanted list in Russia, according to a notice seen on Monday by AFP concerning this voice critical of the conflict in Ukraine, known for having brandished a pacifist sign on television.
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The website of the Russian Interior Ministry indicates that Ms. Ovsiannikova, 44, is wanted in connection with a criminal case, without further details.
Charged in August with ‘spreading false information’ regarding the Russian military — a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison — she had been placed under house arrest by a Moscow court and banned from using any means of communication .
His house arrest ran until October 9 before a probable extension, pending his trial.
Contacted by AFP, her lawyer, Dmitri Zakhvatov, confirmed that she was wanted because “she is not where she was supposed to be until October 9”. However, he did not give more information on his current location, in Russia or abroad.
AFP
On September 21, the date of the announcement of a “partial” military mobilization in Russia, Marina Ovsiannikova’s supporters had posted a message on her social networks. She said she went to a hearing, as part of the lawsuits once morest her, with a sign saying “NO TO MOBILIZATION”.
In mid-March, a few days following the outbreak of the offensive in Ukraine, Marina Ovsiannikova interrupted the evening news of the major Russian channel Pervy Kanal, where she had worked as a journalist for nearly 20 years.
She had waved a sign in full live calling for an end to the fighting and the Russians to “not believe the propaganda”.
Listen to the interview with Michel Roche, specialist in the USSR on the show Richard Martineau broadcast live daily at 9:05 a.m. via :
For this gesture, she was briefly arrested and fined. She then left the country to work for the German media Die Welt.
In July, she had returned to Russia to try to retain custody of her two minor children, whom her ex-husband, still living in Russia, was trying to take from her.
Despite the risks, she had continued to criticize the power and the offensive from Moscow, before being arrested once more and charged with “disseminating false information” regarding the army.
Since the offensive in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have repressed any denunciation of the conflict with thousands of fines, but also criminal cases punishable by very heavy prison sentences.
