French prosecutors on Thursday, October 12, began an investigation into the suspected poisoning of Marina Ovsyannikova, a former journalist of Russia’s First Channel living in exile.
French prosecutors on Thursday, October 12, began an investigation into the suspected poisoning of Marina Ovsyannikova, a former journalist of Russia’s First Channel living in exile.
The journalist, who now lives in France, felt sick when she opened the door to her apartment in central Paris and noticed a powdery substance, a source close to the investigation said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Last week, a Russian court sentenced Ovsyannikova to eight and a half years in prison in absentia, finding her guilty of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army motivated by political hatred.
Ovsyannikov gained wider attention in March 2022, when she appeared live in the broadcast studio of the First Channel with an anti-war poster and shouted anti-war slogans.
Soon after the action, she quit her job, left Russia and worked in Germany for a few months.
Later, she returned to Moscow and continued to participate in anti-war actions.
She was fined three times for “discrediting” the army.
In August 2022, a criminal case was initiated against Ovsyannikov for spreading “fake news” about the Russian army.
The reason for this was the journalist’s individual picket in Moscow on the Sofia embankment.
“Putin is a murderer. His soldiers are fascists. 352 children have died. How many more children have to die before you stop?” the journalist’s poster said.
Ovsyannikova was placed under house arrest, but she and her daughter escaped from house arrest.
