During the debate in the Basmanny District Court of Moscow, the prosecutor requested for the former editor of Channel One Marina Ovsyannikova, who left Russia, nine years and six months in a general regime colony in the case of military “fakes.” This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.
The prosecution also asked to prohibit Ovsyannikova from administering websites and pages on social networks for five years.
In July 2022, Ovsyannikova held a picket on Sofiyskaya Embankment opposite the Kremlin with a poster “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists. 352 children died. How many more children must die for you to stop?” Because of this, the Investigative Committee charged her with disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army based on political hatred (clause “d” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
The prosecution claims that by her actions the ex-editor “created a real threat of the formation in society of a negative attitude towards the Armed Forces.” According to the prosecutor's office, the Ovsyannikov picket was filmed on the phone by Kristina Pashkova and an unidentified person, and then the video was given to her.
On the night of October 1, 2022, Ovsyannikova escaped from house arrest and left Russia, so the case is being considered in absentia.
In court, the prosecutor read out the testimony of the prosecution witnesses — they turned out to be employees of the center “E” of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Central Administrative District, Sergei Sikanov and Alexey Kolchanov. The first learned about Ovsyannikova’s picket from the Astra telegram channel, the second looked at the Astra telegram channel and determined that it was about Ovsyannikova. He also looked at the Siloviki channel and saw a briefing from the Ministry of Defense there.
The third witness’s name is Maxim Kharitonov, he “operates in the IT industry and is interested in the news agenda.” He recognized Ovsyannikova “by her facial features, the shape of her nose, lips, hair color, and haircut.”
“I think that in the context of the events taking place, any sane person would perceive [Ovsyannikova’s action] the same way as I do,” he told Kharitonov during interrogation. He added that he himself believes the position of the Ministry of Defense, since it “corresponds to the goals and objectives of the special operation.”
Kharitonov also told how he became a witness: according to him, a policeman approached him on the street, asked if he had read the news and, having received an affirmative answer, invited him to the investigator. The fourth prosecution witness, Alexander Fomin, described the sensations from Ovsyannikova’s action in the same way as Kharitonov. Fomin claimed that he regularly monitors the reports of the Ministry of Defense, but has never seen Russian soldiers killing children there, so he decided that Ovsyannikova was spreading “fake news.” Fomin's friend Denis Denisov gave the same testimony.
In addition, witnesses in the case were the driver of Yandex.Taxi, the mother of Kristina Pashkova, as well as Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband Igor, their son Kirill and the mother of the former editor herself Aliya Tkachuk.
Igor Ovsyannikov said that after the divorce he hardly communicates with his wife. After his ex-wife’s protest, he filed a lawsuit to deprive her of parental rights, as he decided that she could harm the children. In his opinion, Ovsyannikova tried to convince her son not to enroll in a Russian university, and also wanted to take her daughter “to a refugee camp in the Kaluga region.”
On August 29, 2022, he contacted the police with a statement about the disappearance of his daughter, who , he believes, his wife illegally took him out. He believes that Ovsyannikova is “manipulating the consciousness” of her daughter Alina. Ovsyannikova's mother said she believes official sources and does not believe that the Russian army is killing children. “I am very ashamed of my daughter’s actions,” Tkachuk explained.
Ovsyannikova became famous in March 2022, when she ran into the frame of presenter Ekaterina Andreeva during the evening newscast of Channel One. In her hands Ovsyannikova held a poster “No war. Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda. They are lying to you here”; She managed to utter the phrase “Stop the war” several times live. No to war.”
The next day, Ovsyannikova was fined for calling for participation in uncoordinated demonstrations (Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) and released; she soon left for Germany. After returning in July, the former editor of Channel One was given two more fines under administrative protocols for “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) — for a post on Facebook and for a comment to journalists.
“Here they are lying to you.” The Ostankino court fined Marina Ovsyannikova, who ran live on air with an anti-war poster.