He opened a banner in a live broadcast, they announced his punishment

Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who opened an anti-war banner on the Russian state channel in the early days of the Ukrainian occupation, was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison at her trial.

Journalist Ovsyannikov, who protested Russia’s attacks on Ukraine by opening an anti-war banner during a live broadcast on Russian state television Channel 1, was released after being detained. The 45-year-old journalist, who escaped house arrest in Russia last year with her daughter, was sentenced to prison on charges of “spreading false information about the Russian army” in the case in which she was tried in absentia.

In addition, Ovsyannikov’s activities in electronic media were banned for 4 years.

Ovsyannikov called the accusations against him “nonsense” and stated that this action was “the only moral option I had.”

After the start of the war, Russia adopted laws making it a crime to humiliate the Russian military and label the war in Ukraine an “occupation,” and announced that those who did not comply would be sentenced to prison and fines. Thousands of people protesting the war in Ukraine, which began in February last year, were also detained in Russian cities.