Lerman was searched in the evening of 3 March, and the next morning he was taken to the police station. According to the police, he was a witness in a case under investigation. Lerman's relatives are sure that the reason for the case was the man's anti-war statements on social networks. Lerman's wife says that during the search Center for Combating Extremism officials were interested in her husband's publications on Facebook and said that he had participated in a rally in memory of Boris Nemtsov. At the police station, a report was drawn up on Lerman under the article on violation of the order of holding a rally (20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences), he was found guilty and arrested for nine days. While he was serving his arrest, the house was searched again. This time ten cartridges were found in the common entrance of the apartment building: the investigators believed that they belonged to the electrician. The court sent Lerman to custody. On 10 December Lerman was sentenced to four years in a penal colony. Both before and after the verdict, pro-government TV channels accused Lerman of contacts with Ukrainian intelligence, claiming that he was in custody. This was prompted by a screenshot of Lerman's correspondence with an acquaintance from Ukraine, which he kept shortly before the first search - Lerman's wife claims that he was trying to find out details about his neighbour, who, as it later turned out, died in Ukraine on 24 February.