A Russian journalist arrested in April after a social media post about bombing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol is said to have been transferred to a mental institution. That’s what ‘RusNews’ – which she worked for – and the ‘The Siberian Times’ report.
Maria Ponomarenko of Barnaul in southwestern Siberia was arrested in St. Petersburg on April 23 on charges of spreading “fake news” based on “political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred”. She faces up to ten years in prison for this.
The woman worked for the Siberian news site ‘RusNews’. According to the Russian authorities, however, she would also have been linked to the now closed news channel ‘No Cencorship’ on Telegram. Among other things, it reported on the Russian bombing of Mariupol. She herself denies that and she also says that there is no evidence against her.
protest actions
Ponomarenko previously wrote for ‘RusNews’ about protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Russian cities of Novosibirsk and Saint Petersburg. She was previously arrested and fined for her reporting on the protests against the war.
Authorities conducted a housing operation at her home on April 25 and questioned her 16-year-old daughter. She was transferred to a detention center in Saint Petersburg two days later. A judge then ordered her to remain in jail for two months while the investigation ran against her.
A month ago she gave a written interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from her cell. In it she described the war in Ukraine as “painful”, “fratricide” and “madness”. “I have the right to call it a war. I’ve done everything I could. I haven’t been silent. But a repressive machinery shuts our mouths. Even then, however, there will be brave people who will not cooperate in the murder of the civilian population in Ukraine. We fight, even if there are not many of us.”
Now, however, according to ‘RusNews’ and ‘The Siberian Times’, the woman would have been transferred to a psychiatric institution, where she would remain incarcerated for at least a month.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) previously called for her immediate release.
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