Marina Ovsyannikova
Marina Ovsyannikova, born 1978, Moscow. Charges: Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code (Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government…); “The case of Marina Ovsyannikova”. Sentence (October 4, 2023): 8 years 6 months imprisonment in absentia, prohibition to administer Internet sites for 4 years. Status: not in Russia. Recognition: SOVA Center — recognised as a political prisoner, March 1, 2023; Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, October 3, 2022.
In brief
Moscow · Moscow · Journalists · Anti-war cases, Cases against "foreign agents", Cases related to mass actions
Sentence
8 years 6 months
imprisonment in absentia, prohibition to administer Internet sites for 4 years
Upheld March 28, 2024
Charges
- Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code — Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries (based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity in relation to any social group)
Full wording of the charges
The reason for the prosecution was a solitary picket on 15 July on Sofia Embankment with a poster "Putin is a murderer. His soldiers are fascists. 352 children have died. How many more children must die for it to stop?".
Latest event
October 3, 2025 — added to the register of “foreign agents”
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — SOVA Center, March 1, 2023
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, October 3, 2022
Timeline
· Added to the register of “foreign agents”
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 8 years 6 months
· Recognised as a political prisoner
SOVA Center
· Preventive measure: arrest in absentia
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: house arrest
· Preventive measure: placement in a temporary detention facility
· Persecution begins
The case of Marina Ovsyannikova
Criminal case
The case of Marina Ovsyannikova
- Case number
- 01-0536/2023
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Details and sources
Full summary
Former editor of Channel One.
On 14 March 2022, she entered the live broadcast studio of the evening news with a "Stop the war..." banner, and the day before she published a video in which she called for a protest against the war. Immediately after the rally Ovsyannikova was detained, for a long time she was not allowed to get in touch. The court the next day fined her because of the video, and the protocol because of the live rally later returned to the police. Ovsyannikova resigned from Channel One and left Russia, but later returned. In July, she was detained again and then fined because of a speech she made outside the court on 13 July, when Ilya Yashin was sent to pre-trial detention . At the end of July, the journalist said that she had noticed that she was being followed. In August, she was given another fine - because of an anti-war publication in Facebook. On 10 August, she was detained after a search. On the same day she was charged with spreading "fakes" about the Russian army on the grounds of political hatred (item "e" part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). The next day Ovsyannikova was placed under house arrest. On 3 October it became known that Ovsyannikova was put on a wanted list because she had left Russia. Before that, her ex-husband reported that Ovsyannikova escaped from house arrest together with their common daughter. The court refused to change the preventive measure. Later, Ovsyannikova's parental rights were restricted: the court ruled that her daughter should live with her father. On 20 October, Ovsyannikova was arrested in absentia.
On 4 October 2023, Ovsyannikova was sentenced in absentia to eight and a half years in prison. On 26 October, she was deprived of parental rights.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
- Preventive measures
- arrest in absentia
Other people prosecuted under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.