- A Russian courtroom fined former TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova for her anti-war social media posts.
- In March, she burst onto a dwell TV set with an anti-Ukraine struggle message emblazoned on an indication.
- She was fined $820 on Thursday for social media feedback she later made in regards to the invasion.
Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state TV journalist identified for interrupting a dwell broadcast to protest the Ukraine struggle, was fined $820 this week on a cost of discrediting the nation’s military on social media.
A Moscow courtroom dominated on Thursday that the Russian anchor broke the legislation by writing social media posts, by which she stated these answerable for the invasion would discover themselves on trial earlier than a global tribunal, Reuters reported.
Ovsyannikova advised the courtroom that she did not perceive why she had been charged, and refused to withdraw her feedback, Reuters reported. The Russian courtroom additionally dismissed her lawyer’s arguments that the journalist had the proper to freedom of expression below Article 29 of the Russian structure, per Reuters.
Russia has cracked down on anti-war protests and on-line networks spreading details about the invasion of Ukraine since its assault started on February 24. In March, simply weeks after the invasion kicked off, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a legislation that criminalized all opposition to the Ukraine struggle, successfully banning using the phrase “struggle” to explain the battle.
Russia additionally handed a legislation the identical month that prohibits “discrediting” its armed forces, making it against the law now punishable by as much as 15 years in jail or a 5 million ruble high-quality — the cost that Ovsyannikova was convicted on.
“What is going on on right here is absurd,” Ovsyannikova stated in courtroom, per Reuters. “Battle is horror, blood, and disgrace.”
She added that the courtroom’s accusations have been akin to accusing her of “spreading monkeypox.”
“The aim of the trial is to intimidate all of the individuals who oppose the struggle within the Russian Federation,” Ovsyannikova stated. Sustaining her anti-war stance, she added that the struggle was “the most important crime” ever perpetrated by the Russian authorities.
The ex-editor stated she would enchantment the high-quality, and advised journalists outdoors the courtroom that authorities “have not managed to intimidate me,” the BBC reported.
Ovsyannikova made headlines in March after she burst onto a dwell broadcast of state-controlled Channel One — her employer — holding an indication that learn “Do not imagine the propaganda,” and “They’re mendacity to you right here.”
“Cease the struggle! No to struggle! Cease the struggle! No to struggle!” she yelled over the anchor, earlier than the channel minimize away from the studio.
—rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 14, 2022
“I have been feeling a cognitive dissonance, more and more, between my beliefs and what we say on air,” Ovsyannikova said on CNN. “It was a brewing sense of dissatisfaction that kept increasing every year.”
“And I realized we would have to do something, or we will reach a point of no return, and it will be more and more difficult to do anything,” she continued.
For that on-air protest, Ovsyannikova was fined 30,000 rubles in March, which was worth around $280 at the time.
