Investigators have determined that 21-year-old Moscow student Egor Zhukov was misidentified in a video taken during the city’s July 27 election protest, his attorney Ilya Novikov told the radio station Ekho Moskvy.

Law enforcement officials first charged Zhukov in a mass rioting case targeting protesters in large part because of video evidence. They claimed that a clip from the protest showed the student “directing” other marchers. Now, Novikov indicated, investigators have acknowledged that the young man in the video is actually a different individual.

Nonetheless, the attorney said that Zhukov’s prosecution will continue. The Higher School of Economics (HSE) student, who also hosts a successful video blog, has attracted public support from figures as diverse as pro-regime candidate and HSE Provost Valeria Kasamara, the rapper Oxxxymiron, and leaders of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages.

The campaign for Egor Zhukov As Moscow police charge nine activists with ‘rioting,’ a support campaign mobilizes around one university student