ABC Australia
Former Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been fined 50,000 roubles ($1,155) after being found guilty of discrediting the country’s armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Key points:
- Marina Ovsyannikova was fined 50,000 roubles for predicting the architects of the Ukraine war would end up in the dock
- A judge rejected her argument she had freedom of expression under the Russian constitution
- Ovsyannikova rejected the proceedings against her as “absurd”
The ruling was passed after a short hearing in a Moscow administrative court, during which the judge said the evidence confirmed Ovsyannikova’s guilt and there was “no reason to doubt its authenticity”.
Ovsyannikova, who rejected the proceedings against her as “absurd”, gained international attention in March after bursting into a studio of Russian state TV, her then employer, to denounce the Ukraine war during a live news bulletin.
At the time she was fined 30,000 roubles for flouting protest laws.
Thursday’s hearing was related to subsequent social media posts in which she wrote that those responsible for Russia’s actions in Ukraine would find themselves in the dock before an international tribunal.
