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Mme Veronika V. Milinchuk was appointed as the Representative of the Russian Federation before the European Court of Human Rights by the Decree of the Russian Federation President No. 371, 20 March 2007. The event will be covered in more detail in the next issue of the journal. We are confident that the roles of Russia in the European human rights mechanism will expand.

The 8th of March was the anniversary date in the life of Mr Andrey A. Trebkov: he was celebrating his 70th birthday. Mr Andrey A. Trebkov is the President of the international non-governmental association «International Union of Jurists», which is a co-founder of our journal, and he is a member
of the Editorial Council of the «Human Rights. Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights» Journal. The Editorial Council, Editorial Board and all employees of the journal most cordially greet Mr Andrey A. Trebkov on the occasion of his anniversary birthday.

The issue of the journal is mostly about the supervisory review proceedings in Russia’s courts. We open the discussion on the subject by publishing the latest legal material in Russian and in English (the latter being aimed at our foreign readers, of course) and articles by eminent Russian jurists,
Mr Boris Ya. Polonskiy and Mr Nikolay M. Kipnis, on the issue of the supervisory review proceedings.

The approach of the European Court of Human Rights to the issue is based on its case-law and seems to be a radical one. The European Court does not take into consideration the special characteristics of the judicial system of the Russian Federation, which had been formed considering the size of the country, its multinational and very large population and the latter’s uneven allocation in the territory of the State.

In fact, allegations of the European Court as regards the supervisory review proceedings in the Russia’s judicial system concern the issues that are not settled by the European Court itself yet.

The ancients used to say: nemo index in propria causa est. However, how can judges who took prior decisions to revise a case and refer it to the Grand Chamber be involved in the hearing before the Grand Chamber? But this is what Rules of Court envisage, as of today.

The supervisory review proceedings in Russia’s courts do need certain reforming. This was noted by the judgment of the Russian Federation Constitutional Court of 5 February 2007. In any case, renouncement of the supervisory review proceedings in Russia would have become pernicious for her judicial system. The reforming should be considerate, adjusted and well-weighed.

Case-law of the European Court, considering particularities of the life, should not be a dogma, as it sometimes appears in the practice of the European Court. An approach of the Court should also transform, as the things develop and necessary corrections are made.

We hope that our readers, both Russian and foreign, including judges of the European Court, would suggest their ideas on the issue on the pages of our journal.

 

Vitaly Portnov

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