Ex-Russian opposition mayor Roizman detained over social media post

Russian police have arrested opposition politician and former Yekaterinburg mayor Yevgeny Roizman over a social media post supporting jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, local news outlet It’s My City reported THURSDAY.

Roizman allegedly posted a video clip briefly showing the logo of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was banned as an “extremist” organization in 2021, on the VKontakte social media platform last February, according to police.

His lawyer Vladislav Idamzhapov confirmed to Russian news agencies that Roizman had been detained, but said his client had not shared the video.

“We immediately declare that Yevgeny Roizman did not participate in this offense, because he never had a personal account on VKontakte and never used this social network,” Idamzhapov told the state news agency. CASS.

The Moscow Times has sent a request for comment to Idamzhapov.

“I don’t even admit that the event took place, much less my guilt,” Roizman said as he walked into court on Thursday.

He faces a fine of up to 2,000 rubles ($26) or up to 15 days’ arrest if found guilty of sharing symbols linked to an “extremist” organization.

Roizman, one of the last opposition figures still in the country and not behind bars, is already awaiting trial for “discrediting” the Russian army, which could see him imprisoned for at least three years.

He was arrested and released pending trial in August for “discrediting” the military for comments criticizing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Roizman has already been fined three times for criticizing the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

More than 450 people, including prominent Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, face criminal charges for expressing their opposition to the war in Ukraine, according the OVD-Info monitoring group.

Roizman was mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, from 2013 to 2018. He was a member of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, from 2003 to 2007.

AFP contributed reporting.