The house arrest of ex-editor of Channel One Marina Ovsyannikova in the case of “fake news” was left in force

The Moscow City Court recognized the house arrest of former Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova as legal in the case of “fake stories” about the Russian army. This was reported by OVD-Info lawyer Leysan Mannapova, who represented Ovsyannikova’s interests in court.

The accused participated in the hearing via video link from the Shcherbinsky District Court of Moscow.

At the trial, Ovsyannikova said that she could not get her 11-year-old daughter to return to school, where she had studied since the first grade: the daughter’s father transferred her to another school, the management of which now does not give the girl’s documents to the mother’s representatives, writes SOTAVision. School employees refer to the police order.

Previously, the couple had a conflict over who their daughter should live with. The journalist, who emigrated in March, returned to Russia in July to sue over child custody.

Marina Ovsyannikova was sent under house arrest on August 11. A case was opened against her for disseminating “fake stories” about the Russian army based on political hostility (clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) because of a single picket on the Sofiyskaya embankment in Moscow. Then Ovsyannikova stood up with a poster “Putin is a murderer. His soldiers are fascists. 352 children died. How many more children must die for you to stop?

On August 10, they came to the journalist’s apartment with a search, after which she was detained and left overnight in a temporary detention facility.

• Until mid-March, Ovsyannikova worked as an editor at Channel One; on March 14, she came out with a “Stop the war […]” poster live on the evening news. The journalist also published a video in which she called for protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
• Immediately after the live action, Ovsyannikova was detained and was not allowed to contact her for a long time. The next day, the court fined her under the article on organizing an uncoordinated action (Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) because of the video, and subsequently returned the administrative protocol on discrediting the Russian army because of the action on air to the police.
• Subsequently, Ovsyannikova was fined twice under the administrative article on discrediting the Russian military (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences): on July 28 - because of an anti-war speech at the Basmanny Court on the day of the election of a preventive measure for politician Ilya Yashin , and on August 8 - because of an anti-war post in Facebook.
• Article 207.3 was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the authorities responded to anti-war speeches and statements, as well as the dissemination of information about the war that did not come from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under this article is 15 years in prison. Dissenters are persecuted not only under the new article - you can read about criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine in our guide .