War in Ukraine: Russian TV protester fined and released

Marina Ovsiannikova, the employee of Russian state broadcaster Channel One who broke into the news to protest the war in Ukraine, left court on Tuesday (March 15).

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A Moscow court on Tuesday fined Marina Ovsiannikova, an employee of a Russian television channel who burst into a pro-Kremlin newscast to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, without however imprisoning her.

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Convicted of having committed an "administrative offence", Marina Ovsiannikova will have to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (about 250 euros at the current rate).

“ 

My life has changed a lot, that's for sure.

I'm glad I expressed what I thought.

More importantly, now there is a new trend: other journalists are following my example

 ,” Marina Ovsiannikova said after the hearing.

In a brief statement to the press afterwards, she said she wanted above all 

to "rest  " after this "

very difficult

" ordeal 

 .

“These are very difficult days in my life, I spent nearly two days without sleep, the interrogation lasted fourteen hours,” she said.

Marina Ovsiannikova made a name for herself when she burst into Russia's most-watched newscast live on Monday night, on the Pervy Kanal channel, with a sign criticizing Moscow's military operation in Ukraine and denouncing the "propaganda" of the controlled media by power.

Images of this gesture

have gone around the world, with many Internet users hailing an act of "extraordinary courage" in a context of merciless repression against any critical voice in Russia.

Even French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that he was ready to offer " 

consular protection

 " to Marina Ovsiannikova, either at the embassy or by granting her asylum.

►Also read: Russia: an activist opposed to the war in Ukraine interrupts the main Russian television news

Although released on Tuesday, she still faces criminal charges punishable by heavy prison sentences.

Tuesday's hearing was not directly devoted to Marina Ovsiannikova's action on Pervy Kanal, but to a video broadcast at the same time on the internet in which she denounced the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine.

(

With

AFP)

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