Yevgeny Roizman

Yevgeny Roizman
Евгений Ройзман
Roizman in 2018
Mayor of Yekaterinburg Head of Yekaterinburg City Duma
In office 24 September 2013 – 25 May 2018
Governor	Yevgeny Kuyvashev
Preceded by	Yevgeny Porunov
Succeeded by	Aleksandr Vysokinsky
Member of the State Duma
In office 29 December 2003 – 24 December 2007
Personal details
Born	Yevgeny Vadimovich Roizman (1962-09-14) 14 September 1962 Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Yekaterinburg, Russia)
Political party	A Just Russia (2005–2006) Right Cause (June–September 2011) Civic Platform (2012–2015)
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Spouse	Yuliya Kruteyeva
Children	5
Education	Ural State University
Occupation	Politician, historian, poet, author, art collector, entrepreneur, YouTuber
Awards	Order of Saint Righteous Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy (3rd class)

Yevgeny Vadimovich Roizman (Russian: Евге́ний Вади́мович Ро́йзман; born 14 September 1962) is a Russian opposition politician who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg from 2013 to 2018. He campaigned against corrupt police, illegal drug sellers and for drug rehabilitation centers.

Early life

He was born in Sverdlovsk to a Jewish father and Russian mother (his surname is of German origin and is a cyrillized version of Reusemann). His father was a power engineer at Uralmash. His mother was a nursery teacher. Roizman claims to have left home at age 14, to have traveled across the country and later to have started work at Uralmash as a welder. He graduated from Ural State University as a historian/archivist. He was sentenced to a two-year prison term in 1981 on charges of theft and fraud.

Philanthropy

Roizman with part of his paintings collection.

Roizman is the founder of Museum of Nevyansk Icon at Sverdlovsk region. This is the first private museum to collect icon-paintings. It is located in the city of Yekaterinburg. This museum has over 600 exhibits, including icons, gospel covers, crosses, books and wooden sculptures. The earliest icon is The Egyptian Mother of God (1734), the latest is Christ Pantocrator (1919). Roizman worked in finding, searching and restoration of the icons.

In 1999, Roizman cofounded the City Without Drugs program. He operates a drug rehab center in Yekaterinburg. He was accused by city officials of kidnapping drug-addicts.

Political career

Roizman was a State Duma deputy between 2003 and 2007, and attempted to run for parliament from the A Just Russia party in 2007, but was taken off the election list after a conflict with party leaders. Until 2015, he was a political ally of Mikhail Prokhorov and was supported by the Civic Platform party.

Mayor of Yekaterinburg

He was elected Mayor of Yekaterinburg on September 9, 2013, with over 30 percent of the vote, beating United Russia candidate Yakov Silin who got under 29 percent.

In 2018, Roizman resigned after Russian authorities decided to scrap mayoral elections in the city.

Gubernatorial campaign

In May 2017, Roizman announced that he would stand in gubernatorial elections in September as the candidate from the liberal opposition party Yabloko. He challenged acting Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev, a United Russia politician with whom Roizman has a longstanding personal rivalry.

Political positions

Roizman was outspoken against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and called it the "betrayal of Russians". Two protocols were drawn up against Roizman for "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces due to his social media posts and a video, in which he pleaded not guilty on 29 March; the court will consider a third protocol on 7 April.

He became a subject of a criminal case for "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces and was arrested on 24 August 2022.