(Moscow) Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, under house arrest for denouncing the Russian offensive in Ukraine, fled Russia with her daughter, her lawyer told AFP on Monday.
Posted at 7:51 a.m.
Updated at 7:58 am
“Ovsiannikova left Russia with her daughter a few hours after leaving the apartment where she was under house arrest,” Dmitri Zakhvatov told AFP, adding that mother and daughter are in Europe.
“They are fine, they are waiting to be able to express themselves publicly, but for the moment it is not sure,” he added.
This announcement comes two weeks after a wanted notice for the 44-year-old journalist was issued by the Russian authorities, suggesting that she was on the run.
Indicted in August for “spreading false information” about the Russian army – a crime punishable by 10 years in prison – she had been placed under house arrest by a Moscow court and was prohibited from using any means of communication.
In mid-March, a few days after the outbreak of the offensive in Ukraine, Marina Ovsiannikova interrupted the evening news of the major Russian channel Pervy Kanal, where she had worked as a journalist for nearly 20 years.
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Marina Ovsiannikova denounced the offensive launched by Vladimir Putin live on the Russian channel Pervy Kanal where she worked, on March 14.
She had waved a sign in full live calling for an end to the fighting and the Russians to “not believe the propaganda”.
For this gesture, she was briefly arrested and fined. She then left the country to work for the German media Die Welt.
In July, she had returned to Russia to try to retain custody of her two minor children, whom her ex-husband, still living in Russia, was trying to take from her.
Despite the risks, she continued to criticize the power and the offensive from Moscow, before being arrested again and charged with “spreading false information” about the army.