Marina Ovsyannikova fled from Russia to Frace last year. (File photo)
Former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovshannikova, who made headlines during a news broadcast last year with a sign reading “stop the war”, may have been poisoned in France. According to CBS News, Ms. Ovsyannikova was hospitalized on Thursday after suddenly falling ill. She later told police she felt unwell after opening the door of her Paris apartment and noticing a powdery substance. Forensic police were sent to investigate her home. Police launched an investigation after Ms Ovsyannikova filed a complaint, the newspaper said.
Christophe Deloire, director general of Reporters without Borders, said he met Ms Ovsyannikova outside her Paris apartment after her malaise.
Mr Deloire wrote on
Reporters Without Borders was instrumental in getting the 45-year-old journalist and her 12-year-old daughter out of Russia after the incident last year.
Ms Ovsyannikova was initially fined 30,000 rubles ($270) and placed under house arrest for organizing a protest, but later fled to France with her daughter.
Last week, a Russian court sentenced Ms. Ovsyannikova in absentia to eight and a half years in prison. She was found guilty of “knowingly spreading false information about the Russian armed forces,” according to a court statement on Telegram.
Ms Ovsyannikova had held her original protest less than three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in what she called a “special military operation”.
