The prosecutor’s office reacted to Yevgeny Roizman in a vegetarian way

The prosecutor’s office announced what punishment they want for the former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman (included in the register of foreign agents) in the process of discrediting the armed forces (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The state prosecution demanded that the oppositionist be fined 260,000 rubles. for a live broadcast in which he talked with citizens about the special operation. Yevgeny Roizman himself called the prosecution’s position a “vegetarian request.” The court received about three dozen appeals in support of Roizman, including from singer Alla Pugacheva and the widow of Russia’s first president, Naina Yeltsina.

The third hearing in the criminal case of Yevgeny Roizman took place on May 18. The former mayor of Yekaterinburg is accused of discrediting the armed forces (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). accusation claims: On July 1, 2022, he was in the premises of the Roizman 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. There, in particular, he called the special military operation in Ukraine a “war”, and compared the letter Z with Nazi symbols. At the same time, he “did not explain” the purpose of the SVO, the prosecution emphasizes.

At the beginning of the meeting, prosecution witness Yury Kontemirov, one of the viewers of the video, spoke. “I watched the recording of the broadcast in August. I was upset that Yevgeny Roizman put the country in an unpleasant light, spoke negatively about Orthodoxy, about the army, about the state and the president. He said that there was no need to get involved in the war,” Mr. Kontemirov explained.

But when asked by the defense whether the words of Yevgeny Roizman influenced his attitude towards the Russian army, the witness replied: “I have a normal attitude towards the actions of the RF Armed Forces. He fought in Afghanistan. After watching the video, my opinion about the army has not changed, I respected it as much as I respect it.”

Then the court listened to Nyuta Federmesser, the founder of the Vera Hospice Charity Fund. She called Yevgeny Roizman “a fantastically caring person” and recalled several episodes when the politician helped patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and others in need. “When he became mayor, it seemed to me that he would build a distance and step back. But no. Even then, his entire office was filled with boxes, wheelchairs, and other humanitarian aid. The room looked more like a warehouse for the needy than the mayor’s office,” Federmesser said.

The last to speak was Dmitry Bakhtin, the father of a boy with SMA, for whose treatment Evgeny Roizman helped raise 160 million rubles. “This is the man who gave life to my child. In 2020, my son was born, a month later he was diagnosed with SMA. In medical institutions, we were denied access to medicine, and we decided to raise funds for treatment on our own. On September 5, 2020, Evgeny Roizman called me and said that he would help. On his birthday, he asked everyone who wanted to congratulate him to donate funds for the treatment of our son. They did everything to close the collection. And it worked out,” said Mr. Bakhtin.

The defense asked the court to add about 30 positive references to Yevgeny Roizman to the case file. In particular, they were given by the widow of the first president of Russia Naina Yeltsina, member of the Presidential Human Rights Council Eva Merkacheva, ex-editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy Alexei Venediktov (listed in the register of foreign agents), directors Nikolai Kolyada and Alexei Fedorchenko. Some characteristics, including from the singer Alla Pugacheva, the court refused to attach, stating that they were not drawn up procedurally.

“Non-procedural – these are all those characteristics where they said that Roizman should be released, that one should not be prosecuted, and the like,” the defendant explained to reporters during a break.

During the debate, the state prosecution repeated its opinion about the guilt of Yevgeny Roizman and requested a fine of 260 thousand rubles for him. “There are no specific statements in the indictment, which, according to the prosecution, are illegal. There is only their interpretation by the prosecution,” said the ex-mayor’s lawyer, Vladislav Idamzhapov. “It is indicated that Roizman used the word “war” and did not mention the purpose of the SVO. But in Russia there is no act obliging citizens to name the goals of the SVO. There is also no obligation to name what is happening between Russia and Ukraine as NWO. The legal status of the SVO is not defined, there was no decree on the start of a special operation, the beginning of the SVO was announced by the President’s address,” Mr. Idamzhapov explained.

According to the lawyer, Yevgeny Roizman did not have a criminal intent to discredit the army, since he could not know what questions the audience would ask during the live broadcast. “If there is no intent, there is no corpus delicti,” summed up Vladislav Idamzhapov.

After the debate, Evgeny Roizman delivered the last word. The politician thanked everyone who wrote him a positive review. “I have lived a good life, I do not regret anything and I am not afraid of anything. No one can take away my right to say what I think,” concluded the ex-mayor. After the meeting, he admitted to reporters that he expected a “more severe” request for punishment from the state prosecution.

“Quite unexpectedly, they asked for 260 thousand rubles. fine. This is a completely vegetarian request. Everyone understands that I did nothing wrong. On the other hand, the verdict has not yet been sounded, so we will not guess, ”said Yevgeny Roizman.

The meeting on the case of the ex-mayor was attended by the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov. “Roizman always supports everyone. The time has come now for us to stand up for him,” he said.

The verdict to Yevgeny Roizman will be announced on Friday, May 19.

Katerina Yakusheva, Yekaterinburg