Criminal investigation started on former russian «Channel One» employee Marina Ovsyannikova

Former employee of the Russian Channel One (Pervyy kanal) Marina Ovsyannikova, who opposes Russia’s war with Ukraine, was visited by Russian law enforcement for a search. She reported it to OVD-Info herself.

Dmitry Zakhvatov, OVD-info lawyer, arrived to help Ovsyannikova. Why law enforcement decided to conduct a search is yet unknown.

6:39 Dmitry Zakhvatov reports that officers broke into Ovsyannikova’s house without waiting for a lawyer. The case was initiated by the criminal rule on public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Article 207.3 of Criminal Code).

12:01 Marina Ovsyannikova stated in her Telegram channel that the criminal case against her is connected with her protest on Sofiyskaya embankment in Moscow. On July 15th she was standing with a one-person protest holding a sign that read «Putin is a killer. His soldiers are fascists. 352 children dead. How many children need to die before you stop?» Now the women is transported to the Investigative Committee.

16:45 Marina Ovsyannikova was charged on the article of spreading fake news about Russian army from motives of political enmity (Article 207.3 (2) (d)). This was reported by OVD-info lawyer Dmitry Zakvatov.

She will be kept in a temporary holding facility for the night. Law enforcement created a detention report. It is yet unknown when Ovsyannikova will be assigned a restraining measure.

• Marina Ovsyannikova was an editor on Channel One, and on March 14 she appeared on screen during the live evening news broadcast with a sign that read «Stop the war…». The day before she published the video where she encouraged viewers to protest against war. Immediately after her live broadcast protest Ovsyannikova was detained, and for a long time she was unable to contact anyone. The next day the court fined her under article on unauthorized protest action (Article 20.2 (5) of the Federal Administrative Offenses Code) because of the video, and later sent the report on discrediting (Article 20.3.3 (1) of the Federal Administrative Offenses Code) because of the broadcast protest back to the police.
• In July, Marina Ovsyannikova was detained again and then fined because of the speech she gave near the court on July 13th, when the politician Ilya Yashin was sent to the SIZO detention center as a restraining measure under the case on «fake news» on Russian army (Article 207.3 (2) (d)). Marina was found guilty on the article on discrediting Russian army (Article 20.3.3 (1) of the Federal Administrative Offenses Code). At the end of July Marina reported that she noticed the surveillance by law inforcement. In August she was fined under the same article, because of her Facebook post.
• Starting from February 24th, the first day of the «special operation» in Ukraine, Russian city residents get out on the streets to protest and talk about the tragedy on social media. Anti-war protests and statements become the reason for criminal prosecution. As of today, more than 200 people became defendants in criminal cases started because of the war with Ukraine. Read more about it in our guide.
• Article 207.3 (​​Public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) was added to the Criminal Code in March 2022. This was how authorities reacted to anti-war protests and statements, as well as to sharing information about war not coming from official sources. Maximum punishment is 15 years of imprisonment.