MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - A prosecutor has requested a nine-and-a-half-year sentence for former Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova, who is charged in a case involving fake stories about the army.
"The state prosecutor of the Basmanny Inter-district Prosecutor's Office asked [the judge] during oral arguments to find the defendant, 45-year-old Marina Ovsyannikova, guilty [...] and assign her a punishment in the form of nine years and six months' imprisonment at a medium-security correctional facility, with a five-year ban on managing websites on electronic or information and telecommunications networks," the Moscow Prosecutor's Office said.
According to its information, in the summer of 2022, Ovsyannikova "published footage and a photo on her public channel registered on an instant messaging service where she shows a poster with text that contains knowingly false information about the actions of Russian Armed Forces personnel during the special military operation."
The case is being heard by a court in a general criminal trial in the defendant's absence. Ovsyannikova is on the international wanted list.
Ovsyannikova was issued an arrest warrant in absentia.
Her sentencing is due at 9 a.m. on October 4, the court said.