Former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested against Moscow’s Ukraine offensive during a live broadcast, was Monday put on a wanted list for allegedly breaching pre-trial house arrest.
Law enforcement detained the 44-year-old in August and charged her with distributing information about the Russian armed forces deemed to be false by the government.
She faces 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Her name was added to the ministry’s wanted list, according to a notice on its website.
She was placed under house arrest from August until October 9 after she held a lone protest in mid-July near the Kremlin carrying a poster that read “Putin is a murderer. His soldiers are fascists”.
Her lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov told AFP Monday that “she was put on the wanted list because of the fact that she is not where she should be until October 9,” adding that details would follow.
The former editor at Channel One made global headlines in March when she barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news, holding a poster reading “No War”.
Criticism of Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine on February 24 has been virtually outlawed in Russia.
After sending troops to Ukraine, Moscow adopted laws imposing sentences of up to 15 years in prison for spreading information about the military deemed false by the authorities.
