Journalist Maria Ponomarenko is jailed for six years for a post about Mariupol

Ponomarenko was found guilty of "spreading false information about the Russian Army" (Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In addition to a long term of imprisonment, the journalist was banned for five years from engaging in professional activities and publishing posts on social networks.

According to investigators, Ponomarenko posted in her telegram channel "false information that the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out an airstrike on a drama theater in the city of Mariupol, when official sources, including the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, denied this information". The investigators stated that the information about the events in Mariupol was promptly refuted, as "the citizen knew". She did not admit her guilt.

The prosecution asked to sentence 44-year-old Ponomarenko to nine years in a penal colony. The maximum sanction of the article is 10 years in prison.

According to the publication "amic", Ponomarenko came to court with a yellow six-pointed star made of paper hanging around her neck. It read: "oppositionist, patriot, pacifist".

Recall that on April 27, 2022, Maria Ponomarenko was arrested in St. Petersburg in the case of fakes about its. The case was initiated in Barnaul, so the defendant was transferred there. After a while, she was transferred to house arrest, but from mid-November 2022 to the end of January 2023, Ponomarenko was again in jail.

One of the witnesses of Maria's defense at the trial was a mother of many children from Barnaul Elena Vorontsova. She told about Ponomarenko's indifference to people's troubles and his desire to help others. After Maria highlighted the housing problem of Elena Vorontsova's family, who was huddled in an emergency house with five children, and publicly appealed to the head of the RF IC, the mother of many children was given a comfortable apartment.

In her last word, Ponomarenko said that she does not count on the leniency of the court, but does not consider herself a criminal. Previously, she repeatedly participated in single pickets, for which she was fined. According to media reports, Maria is divorced, she has two children. Ponomarenko said that she intends to appeal against the court's decision.