Russia jails former opposition mayor for calling for Navalny protests
Yevgeny Roizman, who served as mayor of Russia's fourth largest city from 2013 to 2018, was charged with organising an illegal rally after he urged his nearly 500,000 followers on Twitter to take to the streets. "Organising (a protest) means one tweet and a retweet," Roizman wrote on Twitter, mocking the ruling.
- Country:
- Russia
A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg jailed its former mayor for nine days on Wednesday after finding him guilty of using social media to urge people to protest for the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Yevgeny Roizman, who served as mayor of Russia's fourth largest city from 2013 to 2018, was charged with organising an illegal rally after he urged his nearly 500,000 followers on Twitter to take to the streets.
"Organising (a protest) means one tweet and a retweet," Roizman wrote on Twitter, mocking the ruling. "This is what constitutes a call (to take to the streets)." Roizman, who was also ordered to complete 30 hours of community service, is an outspoken critic of the authorities and sometimes denounces them on Twitter using expletives.
Authorities have stepped up their crackdown on opposition activists in the wake of protests calling for the release of Navalny, who was jailed in February on charges he said had been trumped up. Police detained thousands at rallies across Russia in support of Navalny earlier this year after saying that the demonstrations were illegal and that those taking part could face charges.
Roizman, who has described himself as a friend of Navalny, resigned from his post in 2018 after authorities moved to scrap mayoral elections in the city of 1.5 million in the industrial belt of the Ural Mountains.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- READ MORE ON:
- Russia
- Russian
- Alexei Navalny
- Navalny
- Kremlin
- Yekaterinburg
ALSO READ
Japan calls for law-abiding fix to handling of frozen Russian assets
Ukraine says Russian drone attack damaged energy infrastructure in south
Russian rouble weakens against the US dollar
U.S. journalist missing in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine, say local police
Thousands of Russian soldiers are fleeing the war in Ukraine but have nowhere to go