A Moscow court on Monday fined journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who denounced Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, for discrediting the Russian army.
In March, Ovsyannikova became known for interrupting a live TV program to denounce Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. Her lawyer did not rule out on Monday that she could face criminal investigations in the future.
Last week another court ordered the 44-year-old journalist to pay 50,000 rubles (about $800) for discrediting the Russian army.
On Monday, Ovsyannikova, a former editor of the state-controlled Channel One, said Moscow’s Cheryomushkinsky District Court ordered her to pay 40,000 rubles.
Ovsyannikova’s lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov told AFP she was fined for a post on Facebook. Two convictions within six months can result in criminal proceedings.
In court, Ovsyannikova said she “trolled” the judge, but he didn’t seem to understand her irony.
“America and Europe are to blame for the fact that there is no longer any freedom of speech in Russia, only courts and fair elections. And people are being put in jail for calling for peace,” she said in court, according to her testimony to messaging app Telegram.
Ovsyannikova, a mother of two, was briefly arrested in July.
Her brief arrest came days after she demonstrated alone near the Kremlin, holding up a sign criticizing the military intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
After sending troops to Ukraine, Moscow passed laws imposing prison sentences of up to 15 years for disseminating information about the military that authorities deemed false.
The Russian authorities have not announced the opening of criminal investigations against Ovsyannikova.
In the months following her March protest, Ovsyannikova spent some time abroad, working for the German newspaper Die Welt for three months.
In early July, she announced she would return to Russia to resolve a custody dispute over her two children.
The journalist, who worked for state television for 19 years, said in a recent interview with AFP that she had to sell her car to earn extra money. Ovsyannikova, who currently has no permanent job, works as a freelancer for foreign media.
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