Juraj Rizman
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Juraj Rizman | |
|---|---|
| First Gentleman of Slovakia | |
| In role 15 May 2020 – 15 June 2024 | |
| President | Zuzana Čaputová |
| Preceded by | Martina Kisková (As First Lady) |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 November 1976 Bratislava, Czechoslovakia |
| Spouse | divorced |
| Domestic partner | Zuzana Čaputová (2020–present) |
| Children | 1 |
Juraj Rizman (born 1 November 1976) is a Slovak communication consultant and TV presenter. He is known to the public as the partner of the Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová.
He is a former civil activist (he worked in the sector between 1993 and 2019), especially in the field of human rights protection, the environment and the defense of civil organizations. He was a long-term member of the Government Council for Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations (2012–2019). He worked as the director of Greenpeace in Slovakia (2008–2013)[1] and project coordinator of Via Iuris (2016–2019). In the years 2019–2021, he first worked as an advisor to the President (2019–2020) and later to a vice-chairman of the NR SR (2020–2021).
Biography
[edit]Childhood
[edit]Rizman was born on 1 November 1976.[2] He grew up in the locality of Tehelné pole in Bratislava's Nové Mesto.[3] He attended a sports gymnasium, devoted himself to track cycling.[3][4]
Protector
[edit]In 1993, at the age of 16, he started working for Greenpeace Slovakia as a volunteer.[1][3][4][5] In 1994, he was detained on the ladder of the cooling tower at the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant, for which he was fined.[5][6] He took part in several protest actions, for example against nuclear weapons tests, the construction of atomic power plants, in 2007 protests against logging in Tiche and Kôpra dolina.[5] He also protested in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Romania.
In 2008, Rizman became the director of Slovak Greenpeace, which he led until 2013. He also served as Greenpeace's director of communications for Central and Eastern Europe.[1][5] He left Greenpeace in 2016.
Via Iuris
[edit]Since 2016, he worked in the civic association Via Iuris, where he was in charge of coordinating communication and campaigns.[1][5] In 2018, the Civil Society Defense project was launched within the organization, within which the organization monitored attacks against civil organizations and activists, provided them with communication and legal advice.
State service
[edit]In June 2019, he became an adviser to the President of the Slovak Republic for the environment and civil society, where he worked until January 2020. After he and the president began to form a couple, after the parliamentary elections in 2020, he started working as an adviser to the vice-chairman of the National People's Republic of the Slovak Republic, Juraj Šeliga, where he remained until the end of March 2021.[1]
Business
[edit]Since April 2021, he is a freelancer. He is currently engaged in consulting in the field of communications, strategies and campaigns.[1] From September 2021, he hosts the show Bezpečne SK, which he prepares in cooperation with the SME daily.
Awards
[edit]He is the recipient of the Speaker of the Year award for 2008 and 2017.
Personal life
[edit]He is the partner of the President of the SR Zuzana Čaputová.[1]
Rizman has known Čaputová since 2008, when as a Greenpeace conservationist he cooperated with the association Via Iuris with the Pezinok landfill case.[4][5] They later collaborated in the communication of Čaputová's award with the Goldman Environmental Prize. In 2016, they worked together on a campaign to support the cancellation of Vladimír Mečiar's amnesties.[5]
Rizman is divorced, he has a son from his previous marriage.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Benedikovičová, Mária (2021-09-23). "Juraj Rizman: Keď sme už so Zuzanou Čaputovou doma, poradu o práci si nerobíme". Denník N. Bratislava: N Press. ISSN 1339-844X. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ Sudor, Karol (2008-04-14). "Juraj Rizman: Človek sa začína hrať na Boha". SME. Bratislava: Petit Press. ISSN 1335-4418. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ a b c "Juraj Rizman Chlapec, ktorý robil zle a polepšil sa". svetlopodperinou.sk. 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ a b c Kovačič, Michal (2019-08-24). "Poradca Zuzany Čaputovej: prezidentka bude menej lietať, hľadí na ekológiu". Aktuality.sk. Bratislava: Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ a b c d e f g Koník, Juraj (2019-05-29). "Čaputovej poradca Rizman: Pamätám časy, keď sa Zuzane vyhrážali pre skládku". Denník N. Bratislava: N Press. ISSN 1339-844X. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ Gehrerová, Ria (2018-12-06). "Ak aktivisti nič nepoškodia, nemali by ich trestať, hovorí bývalý šéf Greenpeace". Denník N. Bratislava: N Press. ISSN 1339-844X. Retrieved 2021-09-24.