Poster protest - Is Marina Ovsiannikova the bravest journalist in Russia?

Poster protest - Is Marina Ovsiannikova the bravest journalist in Russia? Her poster campaign at the Russian state broadcaster made her world famous. But before she held the banner up to the camera, no one suspected that Marina Ovsiannikova was very critical of the Ukraine war. from Karen Leuthold The Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova protested against the military offensive in Ukraine with an anti-war poster in a news program. Her work colleagues had not suspected her rejection of the war. Her husband works for the Putin-loyal broadcaster RT. The headquarters of the Russian state television was surrounded on Monday evening, the deployment of police cars and armored vehicles around the Ostankino tower was a clear sign that something very bad had happened. Minutes later, journalist Marina Ovsiannikova was taken away. Her crime: The 44-year-old had held up a banner in the Russian First Channel's daily news "Vremya" that read: "Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here. Russians are against war." Nobody had seen the poster campaign coming, nobody had suspected anything about her rejection of the war, although it was known that Ovsiannikova had a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, as The Guardian writes. Her husband Igor works for Russia Today, another pro-Putin channel. Her work colleagues describe the news producer as a tough and determined journalist who stayed focused on her work. Journalist Marina Ovsiannikova stated in a pre-recorded video published by OVD-Info that her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian. That's why she can't bear to see the two countries as enemies. 20 minutes Ovsiannikova appears in court While the mother of two and dog lover was being hailed as a courageous heroine on social media, her family and members of the human rights organization OVD were looking for her. For hours, Marina Ovsiannikova was considered missing. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, she appeared at a hearing in the Moscow court along with her lawyer Anton Gashinsky. The prominent Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov published a photo on Telegram in which she can be seen behind her lawyer. As reported by the BBC, the Russian has been accused of organizing an unauthorized public event. She was sentenced to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (CHF 264) for this misdemeanor. Initially, her defense feared that Ovsiannikova would be accused of discrediting the Russian army by using alleged "fake news". A law just passed by the Duma provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison for this crime. The journalist is reportedly currently under house arrest. In court, Ovsiannikova pleaded not guilty. "I do not acknowledge my guilt," she said in the courtroom, as reported by a journalist from the AFP news agency. "I am convinced that Russia is committing a crime." Russia is "the aggressor in Ukraine," she said. Who is Marina Ovsiannikova ? From 2001 to 2005, Marina Ovsiannikova studied at the Russian Academy of National Economy, and then continued her education at the Kuban State University. The 44-year-old is not only fearless as a journalist - also as an athlete: according to media reports, she is said to have taken part in open-water swimmers in competitions such as Swimstar and Oceanman. Her sporting achievements include crossing the Volga and the Bosphorus.