Former Yekaterinburg Mayor Evgeny Roizman arrested on charges of disseminating extremist material

Yekaterinburg police have arrested the city’s former mayor, Evgeny Roizman, on charges of disseminating extremist material, the Telegram channel It’s My City reported on Thursday, citing Roizman’s ex-wife, Yulia Kruteeva, and his lawyer, Vladislav Idamzhapov.

According to Kruteeva, Roizman’s arrest was sparked by a complaint filed against him in December for allegedly sharing a post from Team Navalny on social media.

“The repost was done in a group called ‘Evgeny Roizman’ that he has no connection to, and he has no idea who did it. There are about 20 groups with that name on [Russian social media service] VKontakte,” Kruteeva wrote on Facebook. Both she and Roizman’s lawyer said that the former mayor does not have an account on the service and has never used it.

The case is slated to go to court on March 16. If found guilty, Roizman could face up to 15 days in jail.

Update: The court has extended Roizman’s arrest to 14 days. At the time of his detention, the former mayor told the media that he’d “never in his life even opened VKontakte.”