Publication for six years in a colony – Newspaper Kommersant No. 29 (7474) dated February 16, 2023
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Maria Ponomarenko, an opposition journalist for RusNews, has been sentenced in the Altai Territory for disseminating “knowingly false information” about the actions of the Russian army. According to investigators, in March last year, she wrote on Telegram that Russian troops launched an airstrike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol, and this information contradicts the official version of events from the Russian Ministry of Defense. The court appointed Maria Ponomarenko six years in prison. The journalist herself said in her last word that she did not consider herself guilty and that she felt sorry for the victims on both sides of the military conflict.
The Leninsky District Court of Barnaul has completed consideration of the high-profile criminal case of 44-year-old RusNews journalist Maria Ponomarenko. In March 2022, operatives from the Altai Center “E” drew attention to the publication of a journalist in Telegram. According to the investigation, it said that it was the Russian aerospace forces that launched an airstrike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol. At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russian troops did not strike at the theater.
The investigation concluded that Ms. Ponomarenko expressed her version “motivated by political hatred.”
As a result, a case was initiated under the article on “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Russian army” (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In April 2022, Maria Ponomarenko detained and sent to jail. The journalist spent about a week in a psychiatric hospital, where she was sent for a comprehensive psychological and psychiatric examination; she claimed that strong drugs were injected against her will there. Court repeatedly extended Mrs. Ponomarenko’s term of detention. At one of the meetings Maria Ponomarenko saidwhich opened the veins in the pre-trial detention center due to the “torture” conditions of the isolation ward.
In September 2022, the case went to court. After two months of proceedings, Judge Irina Zavyalova let go journalist under house arrest. According to lawyer Dmitry Shitov, due to a major quarrel with her husband, his trustee left home, deliberately violating the conditions of the preventive measure. After that, the woman was again placed in a pre-trial detention center.
During the debate, the state prosecutor demanded nine years in prison for the journalist. The defense asked for an acquittal. The lawyer explained that Maria Ponomarenko was confident in the authenticity and reliability of the information about the shelling of the Drama Theater in Mariupol by Russian troops, therefore, according to the meaning of the article of the Criminal Code, her position cannot be considered “knowingly false”. The defender also believes that the investigation was unable to establish from which particular electronic device the post was published, and did not prove the existence of a “political hatred” motive.
In the last word, Maria Ponomarenko stated that she did not count on the indulgence of the court, but did not consider herself a criminal.
She believes that she cannot be blamed for information about hostilities if “military censorship” is not introduced in the country.
The court sentenced the journalist to six years in prison in a penal colony. In addition, she was deprived of the right to administer websites and public channels on the Internet for a period of five years, the department of the Investigative Committee for the Altai Territory reported. Lawyer Shitov said that he would file an appeal against the verdict and would seek the removal of all charges against the client.
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