According to his lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, she was arrested on suspicion of having “discredited” the army during a speech in front of a court in Moscow.
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Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, who became famous after appearing live on television with a sign criticizing Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, announced on Monday July 18 that she had been released a few hours after her arrest. “I’m home, everything is fine”she said on Facebook overnight.
According to her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, she was arrested on suspicion of having “discredited” the army during a speech in front of a Moscow court where it had gone last week to support an opponent, Ilia Iachine, imprisoned for having criticized the Russian offensive in Ukraine. This charge, introduced after the launch of the military intervention, is punishable by a heavy prison sentence. For the time being, the authorities have not announced the opening of a criminal investigation against the journalist.
This brief arrest also comes a few days after Marina Ovsiannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding up a sign criticizing the military intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin. After having worked for several months abroad, in particular for the German newspaper Die Welt, the journalist announced at the beginning of July that she had returned to Russia to settle a dispute related to the custody of her two children.