Police allegedly wanted even more severe charges against popular former Yekaterinburg mayor but didn’t get ‘green light’

Police officers reportedly built a case against Evgeny Roizman that would have brought even more serious felony charges against the former Yekaterinburg mayor than he now faces, but the Interior Ministry didn’t get permission to move forward with the investigation.

According to journalists at 66.ru, regional officials have the materials needed to charge Roizman with “publicly justifying terrorism” — a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. Instead, he faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian armed forces. (Almost immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, lawmakers imposed strict restrictions on criticism of the war.)

One source told journalists that the authorities have also twice tried to designate Roizman as a “foreign agent,” but both attempts failed. At Roizman’s arraignment hearing, the judge also declined to grant investigators’ request for what would have amounted to house arrest.

66.ru’s report does not explain why measures against Roizman have been restrained in these ways, but the former mayor’s local popularity could be shielding him against the Interior Ministry’s fiercest persecution.