the russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikovaknown for having interrupted a live television broadcast with a banner criticizing the Russian offensive in Ukrainewas arrested on Sunday, reported relatives and his lawyer.
“Marina was arrested. There is no information about where she is,” says a message posted by her entourage on the journalist’s Telegram account.
The message is accompanied by three photographs in which Ovsiannikova, 44, can be seen as two policemen lead her towards a white van, after having stopped her while she was traveling by bicycle.
His lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatovconfirmed the arrest to the Ria-Novosti press agency, explaining that he does not know where his client was taken.
“I suspect this is related in one way or another to his act of protest,” he added.
There was no official statement, but the arrest comes days after Ovsyannikova demonstrate alone in front of the Kremlin with a banner evoking the death of Ukrainian children during the military intervention in Ukraine and calling the president a “murderer” Vladimir Putin.
This demonstration can be punished by a law against the publication of “false information” and “insults” to the army, charges that can carry prison sentences.
Ovsyannikova became famous when, in mid-March, she interrupted the evening news of the television network near the Kremlin where she worked with a banner criticizing the offensive in Ukraine and the “propaganda” of the media controlled by the can.
Arrested just after, she was released after paying a fine.
Although the images went around the world, Ovsyannikova He did not receive the unanimous greeting of the entire Russian opposition for his gesture, since many reproach him for the years he worked at the Pervy Kanal chain, close to the Kremlin.
After several months working abroad, for example for the German medium Die Welt, the journalist announced in early July her return to Russia to settle a dispute over the custody of their two children.
