The prosecution has asked for nine years in a general regime colony for RusNews journalist Maria Ponomarenko, accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army, during the debates in the Leninsky District Court of the city of Barnaul, human rights project OVD-Info reports, citing lawyer Dmitry Shitov.
Furthermore, the prosecutor has requested that Ponomarenko be prohibited from administering online resources for five years.
At the end of April 2022, a Saint Petersburg court sent Ponomarenko to a pre-trial detention centre. In the cell, she tried to slit her wrists due to her deteriorating mental state. Ponomarenko was previously diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder.
In November, she was placed under house arrest. In January 2023, Ponomarenko was brought back to the detention centre because of an unfavourable situation at home. According to ex-municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina, the journalist got into a fight with her ex-husband in whose flat she had been placed under house arrest.
A criminal case against the journalist was initiated because of her March 17 publication on a Telegram channel with about 1,6000 subscribers about civilians hiding in the Mariupol theatre that was bombed by Russian forces.