Russian television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who became famous after protesting on live television against Russia’s war in Ukraine, confirmed that she escaped from house arrest, to which she was sentenced on charges of spreading fake news, writes Reuters.

• “I believe that I am completely innocent and since our state refuses to respect its own laws, I refuse to submit to the preventive measure chosen for me from September 30, 2022 and I am freed from it,” she wrote in Telegram.

Her lawyer said that her hearing was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. local time in the Moscow District Court, but investigators could not find out where she is hiding.

House arrest for Maryna Ovsyanikovawas set to end on October 9, but the official Russia Today news channel reported on Saturday that she had fled with her 11-year-old daughter and that her whereabouts were unknown. It is unclear how she escaped or where the journalist is, but on Monday her name was added to the Russian Interior Ministry’s online list of fugitives, along with a photo.

In a statement on Telegram on Wednesday, the Russian journalist confirmed she had fled, criticizing the article of the Criminal Code used to charge her and saying she was being persecuted for telling the truth.

On September 21, when partial mobilization was announced in Russia, supporters of Marina Ovsyannikova spread messages on social networks against the decision announced by Putin.

In mid-March, after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Maryna Ovsyannikova shut down the TV channel where she worked as a journalist for more than 20 years, holding a poster with the inscription “don’t believe the propaganda”. She was arrested and fined for this gesture, after which she left the country to work for Die Welt.

In July, she returned to Russia to maintain custody of her minor children, which she disputes with her ex-husband. She continued to criticize the Kremlin before being detained and charged with “spreading false information” about the military. So, in August, she was sentenced to two months of house arrest after a protest in July, when she stood on the river embankment opposite the Kremlin and displayed a poster that said President Vladimir Putin is a criminal and his soldiers are fascists.

She faces up to ten years in prison if found guilty of spreading fake news about Russia’s armed forces. On March 4, eight days after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia passed new laws against discrediting and spreading “deliberately false information” about the armed forces.

Marina Ovsyanikova became known to the whole world in March, when during a live news broadcast on the First Channel, she showed a poster with the inscriptions “Stop the war” and “Breshete” in front of the studio cameras.

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