Russian reporter who protested against Ukraine invasion on TV jailed in absentia

MOSCOW — An exiled Russian reporter who protested against Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine live on state TV is handed over eight years jail in absentia today for spreading “fakes” about Moscow’s army.

Marina Ovsyannikova, 45, held up a protest placard during an evening news program in March 2022, but was sentenced for a separate protest she made outside the Kremlin four months later.

“The court sentenced Ovsyannikova to eight years and six months’ imprisonment, to be served in a general regime penal colony,” the Moscow prosecutor’s office says.

It also says she will be barred from running social media accounts for four years.

Ovsyannikova is not present for the sentencing as she fled the country last year after escaping house arrest with her then-11-year-old daughter.

In a statement posted yesterday before the sentencing, she called the charges against her “absurd and politically motivated.”

“They decided to flog me for not being afraid and for calling things by their names,” she said.

“Of course, I do not admit my guilt. And I do not deny any of my words. I made a very hard, but the only right moral choice in my life, and I have already paid a high enough price for it,” she said.

Her lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov tells AFP it was “meaningless” to take part in the trial but that she will still appeal her sentence.

“There is zero chance of succeeding. As far as we know, there are no acquittals in Russia, especially when the case touches on politics,” he says.