Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, famous for staging an on-air protest against Russia’s war in Ukraine, confirmed she had escaped house arrest over charges of spreading fake news again, saying she had no case to reply.
“I consider myself completely innocent, and since our state refuses to comply with its own laws, I refuse to comply with the measure of restraint imposed on me as of 30 September 2022 and release myself from it,” she said on Telegram.
Her lawyer said she was because of turn as much as a hearing at 10:00 Moscow time at a Moscow district court, but that investigators had failed to ascertain her whereabouts.
Ovsyannikova, 44, was given two months house arrest in August over a protest in July when she stood on a river embankment opposite the Kremlin and held up a poster calling President Vladimir Putin a murderer and his soldiers fascists.
Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova considers herself “completely innocent.”Twitter / Marina Ovsyannikova
A Russian Channel One worker holds up a poster which reads “No War” and condemns Moscow’s military motion in Ukraine in Moscow on March 15, 2022. AFP via Getty Images
She faced a sentence of as much as 10 years in prison if found guilty of the charge of spreading fake news about Russia’s armed forces.
Her house arrest was because of last until Oct. 9, however the state-run news outlet Russia Today reported on Saturday that she had fled along together with her 11-year-old daughter, and that her whereabouts were unknown.
How she left and where she went are still unclear, but on Monday, her name could possibly be seen on the inside ministry’s online list of fugitives from justice, accompanied by a photograph.
Marina Ovsyannikova escaped together with her 11-year-old daughter.AFP via Getty Images
In Wednesday’s statement on her Telegram social media feed, she confirmed her escape, criticizing the article of the criminal code getting used to prosecute her and saying she was being persecuted “for telling the reality.”
Russia passed recent laws against discrediting or distributing “deliberately false information” concerning the armed forces on March 4, eight days after invading Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova got here to international prominence later in March by walking out in front of studio cameras during a night news bulletin on the flagship Channel One with a placard that read “Stop the war” and “They’re lying to you.”
