CNN
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Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who staged a daring protest live on state-run television, has been declared a fugitive after going on the run, Russian media reported.
Ovsyannikova was placed under house arrest in August. She had been charged with disseminating false information about the Russian military after participating in a protest in July, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS. Her detention was supposed to last until Sunday.
Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband said that she had escaped house arrest with her daughter on Saturday, TASS reported. Her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, said he could not confirm those allegations.
“All I know is that she’s gone,” Zakhvatov told CNN.
Ovsyannikova has been added to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ “wanted list,” TASS reported on Monday.
The 44-year-old journalist shot to international fame in March when, as an editor at Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television station, she stood behind an anchor and held up a sign that read “No War” during a live broadcast.
The Kremlin described her actions as “hooliganism,” a criminal offense in Russia. Following her protest, Ovsyannikova was arrested, interrogated for more than 14 hours, released and fined 30,000 rubles (around $500).
A Moscow court found her guilty of organizing an “unauthorized public event” and she fled Russia, but returned in July, according to her official Facebook page.
Ovsyannikova was later fined 50,000 rubles (around $820) over a video recorded on July 13 in which she spoke out against the conflict.
She also shared content of herself holding a one-woman anti-war demonstration on an embankment opposite the Kremlin in Moscow on July 15.
The on-air protest was particularly risky for Ovsyannikova, as it came during an increased crackdown on both political dissent and freedom of the press, forcing local Russian media to curtail their coverage of the invasion or shut down altogether. International news networks including CNN temporarily suspended broadcasting from Russia in the days that followed the invasion.
Ovsyannikova said she felt “ashamed” of her work at Channel One, which she said was effectively peddling Kremlin…
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