Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was arrested in April on charges of defaming the Russian armed forces, says she attempted suicide by slitting her wrists in protest at her pre-trial detention.
Ponomarenko is currently in custody awaiting trial in St. Petersburg, where she is accused of posting on social media about Russia’s bombing of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. She risks receiving a sentence of ten years.
The journalist told the court in the Altai region on September 16 that she suffers from depression and claustrophobia, and therefore needs to be transferred to house arrest to be with her daughters. But the court rejected her appeal and kept her in custody at least until September 29.
At the beginning of September, Ponomarenko was placed in a solitary punishment cell, because he broke a window which was covered with paper.
She is currently in custody in the Siberian city of Barnaul, where she worked for the RusNews website.
A Russian law passed in early March criminalizes the dissemination of “false” reports that “discredit the armed forces.”
A growing number of Russians are being prosecuted under new laws aimed at stifling criticism of Moscow’s military actions in Ukraine.
Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.