Moscow- Poster reading ‘No War’ was seen in Russia where Marina Ovsyannikova ran onto the set of Russia’s most watched-evening news broadcast.
Following a court hearing, a Russian editor who protested Moscow’s military action in Ukraine during a prime-time news on State TV has been fined and released.
On Monday night, Marina Ovsyannikova staged an extraordinary show where she held up an anti-war sign behind a studio presenter reading the news on Channel One and shouted slogans condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Tuesday, it was ordered by a judge with Moscow’s Ostankinsky District Court to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (about$280) after she ran onto the set of Russia’s most-watched evening news broadcast holding a poster reading
“No war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.”
Holding a poster reading “No War” in English, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One Television, barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news late Monday.
A new alarm has been raised over press freedom in Russia and Ovsyannikova’s case drew international attention in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops to pro-Western Ukraine and on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron offered asylum or other forms of consular protection to the journalist.
She was detained and questioned for 14 hours, she told reporters on Tuesday after her protest and afterwards she was released after a judge at Moscow’s Ostanino district court ordered to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles ($280) on Tuesday.
A maximum punishment of 10 days in detention for calling for illegal protests could hae been imposed on her and the charge was not specifically on her interruption of the news broadcast, but on a video statement she released explaining the reasons for her protest and urging Russians to take to the streets.
Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at a TV channel in Russia, interrupted a live broadcast with a sign that read “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.” She has since been detained. This is an act of incredible courage. pic.twitter.com/BOJ70m2ztv
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 14, 2022
Published By: Manan Khurana
Edited By: Khushi Thakur
