# Russian State TV Protester **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2022, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157 "2022-03-16T05:35:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/1 "2022-03-16T05:35:50Z")
> **[Russian state TV employee arrested after on-air protest](https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/russian-state-tv-employee-arrested-after-on-air-protest-135459397916)** > > Dmitriy Piskunov, a lawyer for the human rights group supporting Marina Ovsyannikova, who held an anti-war protest sign during a Russian state TV broadcast, joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss what it took to find her after she was arrested and the... I just saw a video of her leaving a hearing after paying a fine. With as hammer-fisted as Putin is, why isn’t she already in jail for life, or god forbid, worse. I was happy to see her walking away with a smile on her face, and more charges are certainly to follow, but I am surprised that she is able to be out and about. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/2 "2022-03-16T06:21:35Z")
{Never mind.} ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/3 "2022-03-16T06:21:59Z")
Theories: 1. The legal process is still playing out and she could still end up in jail. 2. They’re using lenience as propaganda. If everyone says that they’re evil dictators, having a high profile case where they don’t act like evil dictators helps to hide all the other cases where they didn’t grant lenience. 3. The case was explicitly set up for the same reasons as theory #2. I’d land in options 1 or 2. If she ends up going to jail, it was 1. If she doesn’t, it was 2. If she shows up down the line with a promotion / important position in the government then it was 3. We’ll have to wait a year or two, to find out. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/4 "2022-03-16T12:29:45Z")
Why should they go to the trouble of a trial, thereby giving her another platform to speak out against the government, when they can just surreptitiously poison her with Novichok a few months from now? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/5 "2022-03-16T13:22:42Z")
Not sure a trial would give her a platform to speak out. She could be shackled, gagged, and hooded in her trial. I’m surprised she isn’t being tortured already. She’s got some guts to do what she did. ---
**Author:** ![betonbill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b782af/32.png) [@betonbill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betonbill)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/6 "2022-03-16T14:29:17Z")
I thought I heard something about 14 hours of interrogation. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/7 "2022-03-16T15:17:43Z")
Our local news reported on-air yesterday that she was already in prison for 15 years. Thanks KRON4! ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/8 "2022-03-19T13:19:34Z")
Sorry I don’t have a cite, but I recall reading a while back that one of Russia’s tactics with demonstrators and activists is to re-arrest on new charges every few months. Apparently this is intended to keep the individual ever-paranoid about what’s next. This same article claimed that they will also go after random nobodies who are simply seen at demonstrations months or even years after the event, again as a way of sending a message that you’re never in the clear from that thing you did. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-state-tv-protester/961157/9 "2022-03-19T13:28:37Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If everyone says that they’re evil dictators, having a high profile case where they don’t act like evil dictators helps to hide all the other cases where they didn’t grant lenience. I think we blew right past that when he said, “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary cleansing of society will only strengthen our country" in reference to “scum and traitors”. Reminds me of a line from Community “There was a time and a place for subtlety, and that time was before Scary Movie”