Journalist Marina Ovsjannikova is known for showing a sign opposing the war in Ukraine on Russian television in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In France, the prosecutor’s office in Paris says that on Thursday it started an investigation into the suspected poisoning of a journalist who made a statement on Russian television.
It is about someone who opposed the war in Ukraine in the spring of 2022 in a live broadcast on Russian TV About Marina Ovsjannikova.
The 45-year-old Ovsjannikova, who now lives in the center of Paris, had called the emergency number and had been taken to the hospital for treatment after opening the door of her apartment and feeling unwell. Ovsjannikova said that she suspected that she had been poisoned.
In addition, he had noticed some kind of powder, says an anonymous source of the news agency AFP.
So far, no signs of poisoning have been found. Le Monde – magazine, Ovsyannikova’s condition improved over the course of the day, but her condition was monitored.
The police have taken samples from Ovsyannikova’s apartment and an investigation has been launched into the case, the Paris prosecutor’s office says.
Ovsjannikova fled Russia last year
In her protest on Russian television, Ovsyannikova ran to the live news broadcast of Russia’s number one channel Pervyi Kanal holding a poster urging people not to believe propaganda.
In early October, Ovsyannikova was sentenced in Moscow in absentia to eight and a half years in prison for a protest held outside the Kremlin last year in which she held the Russian president Vladimir Putin and a poster criticizing the armed forces. The court found him guilty of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces.
After the protests, she fled Russia with her daughter with the help of the Journalists Without Borders organization.
According to the Reporters Without Borders organization, a number of its employees have stayed close to Ovsyannikova since she sought hospital treatment in Paris after suspecting poisoning. The organization says that they have no more information to give about the events.
Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters