Marina Ovsyannikova was taken into custody on Sunday.
After a second protest action against Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been temporarily arrested. “I wanted to walk the dogs and just stepped out of the gate when uniformed men approached me,” she wrote on her Telegram channel. She is based in the Krasnoselsky Ministry of Internal Affairs, a police station in Moscow. There had previously been several reports of an arrest. Photos were also posted on her Telegram channel on Sunday that allegedly show police officers taking her into a minibus.
She was released three hours later. “I’m at home. Everything is fine,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “But now I know it’s always best to take a suitcase and passport with you when you go out.”
On March 14, Ovzyannikova appeared behind the anchorwoman during the news program “Vremya” on the Russian channel Pervy Kanal. Ovzyannikova, who herself worked as an editor for the station, held up a sign that read “Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. You’re being lied to here” to the camera. She also shouted “Stop the war!” before the live broadcast ended. For this, the editor, who had previously been considered loyal to the line, received worldwide recognition.
Speculations about reason for arrest
Her brief arrest on Sunday follows a photo posted on social media on July 15 of her holding a placard calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a murderer and his soldiers fascists. “How many more children have to die before you stop?” You can read there. Such public statements are punishable in Russia as publishing “false information” and “denigrating” the army. They can be sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
The civil rights portal “OVD-Info” in Moscow reported on Telegram that she had to answer in court because she made “discrediting” statements about the Russian armed forces during the recent hearing of opposition leader Ilya Yashin in the Moscow court. The information could not be verified so far. The Russian authorities have not yet commented.
After her first action, Marina Ovsyannikova went abroad
Even after the first action in March, the journalist was briefly in police custody, but was then released and sentenced to pay a fine. Internationally, Ovsyannikova received a lot of praise and support, but there were also critical voices from the Russian opposition. One of the criticisms was that Ovsiannikova had worked for years for the Perwy Kanal broadcaster, which the opposition believe to be the Kremlin’s de facto mouthpiece.
After her protest, Ovsjannikova spent several months abroad and worked briefly for the German newspaper “Die Welt”. In early July, she announced her return to Russia to resolve a custody battle over her child.
Marina Ovsyannikova becomes the correspondent of “Welt”.
Protest on Russian state television: Who is Marina Ovsyannikova?
