According to Politzek Info, on March 16, 2022, a criminal case was opened against Marina Novikova and her apartment was searched. According to investigators, Novikova disseminated false information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities through the Pravda Goroda Seversk telegram channel. Novikova was placed under house arrest. At the debate, the prosecutor asked Marina Novikova to be sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Marina said the following:
"I am ready to pay for the right to remain a human and a person, because I understand that there will be no acquittal. I ask the court for only one thing - to impose not a fine, but immediately a term, because even for the minimum amount of the fine defined in the article incriminated me, [700 thousand rubles] and with installments for five years, I have nowhere to get money.
At the last word, Novikova said:
"I did not betray my country and my fellow citizens, who are very sick. I did not cowardly hide behind the employment of a human rights activist and did not flee abroad, because I do not believe that this is a deadly incurable disease. I did not turn away squeamishly, as many of my compatriots did, neither from the country nor from my fellow citizens, although their selfishness and infantilism cause my rejection. My pain shines through in every video message to them for the sake of all of us, the inhabitants of Russia. He who has ears and a heart will hear without fail."
65-year-old Marina Novikova was sentenced to a fine of 1 million rubles.
The defense intends to appeal the decision after it receives the reasoning part of the verdict.