YEKATERINBURG, Russia -- A court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has ordered the city's former mayor and outspoken Kremlin critic, Yevgeny Roizman, to pay a fine of 260,000 rubles ($3,230) for "repeatedly discrediting the armed forces" involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
The court rendered its verdict on May 19 on the charge, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
The 60-year-old Roizman, who went on trial on April 26 and pleaded not guilty, said he did not plan to appeal the ruling.
Roizman was arrested in August 2022 and charged over statements he made on YouTube about Russia's war against Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
Since his arrest, Roizman has been barred from communicating with anyone without permission, using the Internet, telephones, mail, and attending public events. His communications were limited to family members and his lawyers.
In mid-March, while awaiting trial, Roizman was sentenced to 14 days in jail on a separate charge about the alleged distribution of extremist symbols.
Since leaving the post of mayor of Russia's fourth-largest city in 2018, Roizman has gained a popular following for his campaigns to raise money for sick children.
He is known for his regular jogs around the city, which attract supporters and journalists alike, while his penchant for crude language to mock the authorities has bolstered his standing even further.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Roizman has been outspoken in his criticism of the conflict. He has been fined three times on misdemeanor charges of "discrediting" the Russian military.
Shortly after the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law criminalizing any criticism of the armed forces or the conduct of the Ukraine war, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation."
The authorities have used the law to throttle any dissent. In April a Moscow court sentenced opposition politician and Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison on treason and other charges for criticizing the invasion.