Protesting Journalist and 'Exiled' Russian Sentenced to Prison in Absentia

Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who made headlines in 2022 by protesting against Russia's war on Ukraine during a live broadcast on state television, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison on Wednesday, October 4, for 'deliberately spreading false information about the Russian armed forces.' Ovsyannikova expressed her opposition to the war in March 2022 during a live broadcast of the evening news on Channel One of Russian television, holding placards that read 'Stop the War' and 'They are lying to you here.' She was fined for this act. In July 2022, she was arrested while holding placards in front of the Kremlin that read 'How many more children must die for you to stop the war?' and 'Putin is a murderer, the Russian army is fascist,' and was sentenced to house arrest. In February 2023, she fled to France with her daughter. In a statement released ahead of the court's ruling, she called the charges against her 'absurd and politically motivated' and stated that she 'does not accept any guilt' and 'will not take back a single word.' Ovsyannikova's conviction has faced severe criticism from international human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch described the ruling as 'an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression.' The Russian government refers to its invasion of Ukraine as a 'special military operation.' Ms. Ovsyannikova later stated that her role in that news network was merely 'producing propaganda for the Kremlin.'