Stream business – Kommersant

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Yekaterinburg began considering a criminal case against ex-mayor Yevgeny Roizman (included in the register of foreign agents). The politician is accused of discrediting the armed forces (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) – for the video in which he spoke about the special operation and answered questions from the audience. During the meeting, the prosecution examined the evidence of the crime, but the politician refused to plead guilty. After that, all participants in the process watched the entire hour-long stream, which formed the basis of the case.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Yekaterinburg began to consider the criminal case against Yevgeny Roizman eight months after its initiation. According to the indictment, on July 1, 2022, he was in the premises of the Roizman Foundation charitable foundation, where, “wishing to undermine the authority of the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” he broadcast “Answers to your questions” live on YouTube.

The prosecution explained that the reason for initiating a criminal case was the expressions of Yevgeny Roizman, where he, in particular, calls the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine a “war”, and the Z symbol is a “ridge”, while “without explaining” the purpose of the conduct NWO.

Thus, according to the public prosecutor, Yevgeny Roizman publicly communicated to an unlimited circle of viewers information that contains “a combination of linguistic and psychological signs of persuading the addressee of the negative nature of the goals of using the armed forces of the Russian Federation, i.e. discrediting”, and also caused a wide public outcry.

At the stage of examining the evidence, the results of the searches that took place on the day of Yevgeny Roizman’s arrest, August 24, in his apartment and office were announced. Also among the evidence were the results of various examinations and court decisions to find the politician guilty of committing administrative offenses – last year he was fined three times under Part 1 of Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“Discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”).

After that, the meeting participants watched the same stream from July 1. It lasted about an hour. On the recording, Evgeny Roizman answered the viewer’s question about why he stopped posting videos regularly: “After February 24, when there is a war and people are dying, I can’t talk about anything else. And it’s physically impossible to talk about it every time.” The police were also interested in other answers to questions.

Yevgeny Roizman said he understood the charges, but did not admit his guilt.

“The only thing I understood was that I correctly stated everything, I even have nothing to object to. I was surprised that there were seven volumes in the case. For budget money, so many people have done such a front of work. In my opinion, things are completely ridiculous, ”the politician said in a conversation with reporters.

“The whole hour, all questions and answers, in accordance with the prosecution, are considered as criminal intent, pre-organized public actions, with the help of which Evgeny Roizman pursued the only goal – to convince the subscribers of his website and discredit the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” said the politician’s lawyer Timofey Gridnev. At the same time, according to the politician, during the live broadcast, he did not know what questions they would ask, “hence, there was no intent.” “It is much more pleasant for me to answer questions about artists, Old Believers, books, the history of the Urals, but I answer what they ask,” he added.

Consideration of the criminal case will continue on May 10. Yevgeny Roizman suggested that the process would not last long. “There are mechanisms to finish everything in three days,” he said.

Recall, since March last year, Yevgeny Roizman was fined 50 thousand rubles three times. according to part 1. Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The reasons for this were also publications in social networks, where he spoke about the implementation of the SVO. Roizman’s defense failed to appeal against any of the decisions of the courts.

Katerina Yakusheva, Yekaterinburg