After her sensational protest on Russian state television against the war in Ukraine, the woman was fined 30,000 rubles (226 euros) in Moscow.
The verdict came because Marina Ovssyannikova had called for protests against Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine in a video, as the civil rights portal OWD-Info reported on Tuesday. The prominent Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov had previously published a photo of the editor with her lawyer Anton Gashinsky in a courthouse.
At first there were fears that Ovsyannikova could be convicted under a controversial new law for defaming the Russian army. There is a risk of up to 15 years imprisonment.
The editor of Channel One of Russia’s state television held a protest poster against the war in Ukraine into the camera on Monday evening’s main news. The poster also read that the viewers “are being lied to here”. Ovsyannikova also described the Russian attack on Ukraine as a crime in a video.
Talking about a war is forbidden in the Russian state media. The state leadership calls the action in the neighboring country a “special military operation” to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has Jewish roots, thanked Ovsyannikova.