Translated material
Choosing freedom over freedom of choice
One of the former leaders of A Just Russia, Yevgeny Roizman, unexpectedly called for voting for the party in power
One of the most famous members of A Just Russia, Yevgeny Roizman, whose exclusion from the party’s electoral list along with Alexander Lebedev was among the main scandals of the election campaign , surprised again. In the Sverdlovsk region, whose interests he still represents in the Russian State Duma, Mr. Roizman called on his supporters to vote for United Russia. So the parliamentarian decided to insure himself against possible personal problems at the end of his parliamentary powers - as is known, a deputy mandate protects against criminal prosecution.In general, Yevgeny Roizman’s position in the State Duma elections was one of the main topics of the current campaign for the Sverdlovsk region. At first, the decision of the leader of A Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, not to include Mr. Roizman in either of the two party lists in the region became a sensation. Yevgeny Roizman announced his resignation from the party , but soon the acting. The head of the regional branch of the Social Revolutionaries, Yakov Nevelev, disavowed the statement of the famous politician. “I have not received a single statement about leaving the party,” he told reporters. Those around Yevgeny Roizman said that the politician could not decide how to proceed.
In November, Mr. Roizman made his decision and went to the cities of the Sverdlovsk region with a presentation of his book about the work of the Drug-Free City Foundation. However, the politician failed to maintain the status of a “simple writer”. “In our cities, he always said that Burkov was a traitor and it was impossible to vote for A Just Russia, better than Civil Force,” says a member of the headquarters of Alexandra Burkova (the leader of the A Just Russia list in the northern territories of the region, who replaced Evgeniy) on condition of anonymity Roizman). In Yekaterinburg, where the head of the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Chereshnev and Yakov Nevelev are on the list, Mr. Roizman does not speak out against A Just Russia, from which the party members concluded that it helps.
It is known that Valery Chereshnev spoke with a State Duma deputy in early November and advised them to follow the example of Muscovite Alexander Lebedev, who was also not included in the list, but believed in Sergei Mironov’s promise to use politics in other elections and is now helping the party. Yevgeny Roizman in response admitted that he fears December 3 as the day of termination of parliamentary powers and the lifting of parliamentary immunity. The fact is that the law enforcement agencies of the Sverdlovsk region have long been dissatisfied with Mr. Roizman. In the fall of 2006, during the elections to the regional Duma, the list of the Russian Party of Life, which was headed by a State Duma deputy, was accused of connections with crime and the offenses of Yevgeny Roizman were listed. Regional security officials in private conversations swear that as soon as a deputy loses his immunity, he will immediately become involved in several criminal cases.
A source in the governor’s administration says that in mid-November, Mr. Roizman met with the head of the administration, the head of the regional election headquarters of United Russia, Alexander Levin. “Alexander Yuryevich warned that Zhenya would not become mayor of Yekaterinburg (elections for the head of the city in March 2008), but other issues could be resolved,” says the official. Since the middle of this week, on Regional Television (the main shareholder is the regional government, Mr. Levin is the chairman of the board of directors), a statement by Yevgeny Roizman has been constantly repeated, in which the former oppositionist gives an unflattering assessment of all parties participating in the elections of deputies, after which concludes: the choice is between the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and United Russia. “United Russia is better,” concludes the popular politician.
Yevgeny Roizman himself told a Vremya Novostey correspondent that he is not involved in campaigning, but has been receiving citizens since Monday. “I have never campaigned for any party in my life,” said Mr. Roizman.