Russia – Sentencing of Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova to 8 1/2 years in prison (October 4, 2023)

France vigorously denounces the sentencing in absentia of Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova to eight and a half years in prison. Ms. Ovsyannikova had courageously denounced the war of aggression against Ukraine during a Russian television broadcast in March 2022.

France is deeply concerned by the Russian authorities’ stepped-up crackdown against critics of government authorities and their war of aggression against Ukraine.

As Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna has stated, Russian propaganda is a weapon in its own right in the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

We call on the Russian authorities to abide by international human rights law, to respect the freedom to inform, to release all political prisoners and to drop legal proceedings against them.