A Russian court has convicted Marina Ovsyannikova, a journalist who staged a risky protest against the Ukraine war live on state television, to eight and a half years in prison in absentia.
Ovsyannikova was found guilty of “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the press office of the Moscow district court announced on Telegram on Wednesday.
Following the court’s decision, Ovsyannikova characterized the sentencing as politically motivated in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“This is just fake justice because you know, in Russia, we don’t have independent courts, Putin destroyed all independent courts.”
Ovsyannikova said that her family in Russia had turned against her and were even giving false testimony. “I was astonished to learn that they had provided evidence in court against me.
They inhabit a different informational reality. When you visit Russia, your way of thinking changes. My Russian family believes that there are adversaries everywhere around them. They think I’m a traitor because they believe Putin.
She went on to say that she was “very worried” about Russia’s future.
“I’ll be arrested right away if I go back to Russia. I want to fight for a better future because I’m very concerned about the future of my country.”
Last year, Ovsyannikova and her daughter managed to escape from house arrest, and now they are in Paris.
Ovsyannikova previously discussed her escape from Russia to France with CNN in a February interview with her daughter, who is now 11 years old.
When she stood behind an anchor and put up a banner that read “No War” during a live broadcast last year, the 44-year-old journalist gained instant notoriety throughout the world. for the time, she was an editor for Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television station.
