Europe

Europe

France denounces sentencing in absentia of Russian journalist to eight and a half years

05 October 2023 06:27 (UTC +04:00)

France condemned Russia’s decision to sentence Marina Ovsyannikova, a journalist who staged a daring protest live on state-run television, to eight and half years in prison in absentia on Wednesday, APA reports citing CNN.

France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs issued a statement following Ovsyannikova’s verdict.

“France vigorously denounces the sentencing in absentia of Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova to eight and a half years in prison,” the statement read, adding that “Ms. Ovsyannikova had courageously denounced the war of aggression against Ukraine during a Russian television broadcast in March 2022.”

According to the statement, France is “deeply concerned by the Russian authorities’ stepped-up crackdown against critics of government authorities and their war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Ovsyannikova escaped house arrest in Moscow with her daughter last year and is now in France, according to her assistant.

She was found guilty Wednesday of “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” according to Moscow’s district court.

The court’s ruling follows her protest on the Sofiyskaya embankment in Moscow and on Channel One television when she stood behind an anchor and held up a sign that read “No War” during a live broadcast.