Welcome to my online office!
My introduction to the European Court of Human Rights began in the early 2000s, while I was studying at Duke Law School’s Institute of Transnational Law at the University of Geneva. After returning to Russia, where I had obtained my law degree in the 1990s, I received a doctoral degree in law in 2002, and then conducted research and taught European Convention law at my alma mater. I also worked as a staff attorney for the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA CEELI), and later became a deputy coordinator of the US Department of State’s Regional Initiative. After completing legal training at Rutgers University in the United States, I returned and, for several years, headed the Center for Clinical Legal Education and Human Rights Protection, an NGO where, from 2004 onwards, we worked actively with the European Court of Human Rights.
Since the early 2010s, I have offered my services online as an independent legal practitioner registered in St. Petersburg. During this time, I have worked with clients from different countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world on more than 1,200 cases, and have provided consultations on several thousand matters related to the European Court of Human Rights. In recent years, I have expanded my practice to include cases against various States, individual communications (complaints) to UN committees, and requests to the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files.
Below are some examples of my work with the Court.
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Bulgakov case
By judgment of 23 June 2020, the Court found a violation of the applicant’s freedom of expression resulting from the blocking of access to his entire website on the basis of a single item of prohibited material that was later removed, although access to the website was never restored. The respondent Government’s written observations in this case can be found
here.
Applicant’s written observations
(in Russian)
Laptev case
By judgment of 9 February 2021, the Court found a violation of the applicant’s brother’s right to life, as he had been found dead while in custody, and found the related investigation ineffective. I prepared the applicant’s written observations, which were signed and submitted by the applicant’s representative.
Applicant’s written observations
(in Russian)
Lazutkin case
By judgment of 4 February 2020, the Court found a violation of the rights of the applicant, a lawyer, in connection with searches of his home and office conducted under a law that lacked procedural safeguards against interference with professional secrecy.
Application
(in Russian)
Gyrlian case
By judgment of 9 January 2019, the Court found a violation of the applicant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions following the confiscation of undeclared US$90,000, the origin of which was known and was not unlawful.
Application
(in Russian)
Maleyev case
By decision of 4 December 2019, the Court struck the case out of its list of cases because, after the application had been communicated to the respondent Government, it acknowledged a violation of the applicant’s rights on account of his conditions of detention and offered him €7,000 in compensation.
Application
(in Russian)
Skvortsov case
By decision of 7 October 2014, the Court struck the case out of its list of cases because, after the application had been communicated to the respondent Government, it acknowledged a violation of the applicant’s rights on account of his excessive and unjustified detention and offered him €7,000 in compensation.
Application
(in Russian)
(prepared using the pre-2014 application form)
Neznakhin case
By judgment of 6 April 2023, the Court found a violation of the applicant’s freedom of peaceful assembly, as he had been deemed to be a participant in a march in support of a journalist that had been declared illegal.
Application
(in Russian)
Nikolaev case
This case concerns the prolonged non-enforcement of a court judgment in the applicant’s favour. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 28 January 2019.
Applicant’s written observations
(in Russian)
Sablina case
This case concerns the prolonged failure by the authorities to assist in the enforcement of a court judgment in the applicant’s favour. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 23 February 2018.
Applicant’s written observations
(in Russian)
Kuznetsov case
This case concerns a violation of the right to a fair trial in connection with the use against the applicant of his own statements, which were obtained without giving him the opportunity to have the assistance of defence counsel. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 30 November 2020.
Application
(in Russian)
Applicant’s written observations
(in Russian)
Stupko case
This case concerns a violation of the applicant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of his possessions through the quashing of a final judgment in his favour after the opposing party’s repeated appeal to the President of the Supreme Court was accepted, even though it had been lodged out of time and did not refer to any fundamental violations capable of justifying the quashing. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 28 September 2018.
Application
(in Russian)
Aleksandrov case
This case concerns a violation of the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions because the applicant, as a purchaser of real estate, was made to bear responsibility for errors by the authorities, who had allowed inaccurate information to be entered in the State real-estate register and several transactions involving that property to be registered before the applicant acquired it. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 4 October 2021.
Application
(in Russian)
‘Volya’ political party case
This case concerns violations arising from the party’s de facto inability to defend itself against accusations of extremism, which ultimately led to the party’s dissolution. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 21 October 2021.
Application
(in Russian)
Sivtsev case
This case concerns a violation of the principle of legal certainty caused by the unforeseeable resumption of the limitation period after the Russian authorities enacted a law ‘on the admission of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation’, which allowed them to bring a claim against the applicant; when that claim was upheld, he lost his property. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 15 December 2021.
Application
(in Russian)
Menshikov case
This case concerns a violation of the applicant’s rights as a result of his placement in a metal cage in court. The Court
communicated the application to the respondent Government on 2 March 2023.
Application
(in Russian)
