There was no immediate official statement on the reason for the arrest.
His gesture went around the world. Marina Ovsyannikova, a popular Russian journalist who appeared live on television with a sign criticizing Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, was arrested in Russia on Sunday, her family and her lawyer said.
“Marina has been arrested. There is no information about her whereabouts,” said a message posted on a Telegram account by people around her, which her lawyer told the agency. There was no immediate official statement on the reason for the arrest.
Ms Ovsianikova, 44, is seen being led away in a white van by two police officers after being apparently stopped while riding a bicycle.
His lawyer, Dmitry Zhakvadov, confirmed the arrest to the RIA-Novosti news agency, saying he did not know where his client had been taken. “I assume it has something to do with his act of protest,” he added.
Towards new criminal activities?
On Friday, Marina Ovsianikova posted pictures on Telegram of a sign near the Kremlin inciting the death of Ukrainian children and calling Vladimir Putin a “murderer.”
Such statements could, in theory, expose him to criminal charges for publishing “false information” and “discrediting” the military, charges that carry a heavy prison sentence.
The latter became world famous in mid-March after appearing in the middle of the evening news on the set of a pro-Kremlin TV channel, for which he worked with an identity criticizing the offensive and “propaganda” in Ukraine. Government controlled media.
She was briefly detained in the process and released after paying a fine. In a climate of repression of any critical voice in Russia, many applauded the journalist’s courage and images of his gesture went around the world.
In one example of the repressive climate, Ilya Ichin, a prominent Russian dissident, was placed in pre-trial detention on Wednesday pending trial for criticizing the move in Ukraine.
However, the journalist is not unanimous within the Russian opposition, with some criticizing him for years working for the Kremlin’s mouthpiece Pervy Kanal.
After working for several months abroad, especially in a German newspaper Die weldThe journalist announced in early July that she had returned to Russia to resolve a dispute over the custody of her two children.
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