Anton Burkov

Wolfson College

RUSSIANS KNOW HOW TO SAVE THE RIGHT TO PETITION TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

A new and eagerly awaited book on the implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights in Russian courts. After the ratification of Protocol 14 by the Russian Federation on the 8 February 2010, the publication of this book may be the most crucial and recent step taken this year towards the safeguard of the individual right to petition to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). If Protocol 14 enables the start of a long-awaited reform of the Court aimed at speeding up the treatment of complaints, this book, however, brings a whole new area of solutions, within the Russian Federation, to clear the overload of cases pending before the ECHR. Described as provocative by ECHR judge Anatoliy Kovler, who recommended it by writing the foreword, this book speaks about the true spirit of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is to ensure to all citizens of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe the protection of their rights and freedoms by their own national judiciary system to eliminate at the source their need to appeal to the ECHR. Through analysis of hundreds of interviews and judgments on the domestic use of the Convention in Russian courts, the author explores reasons for poor application of international law in Russia. In discussing the previous edition Fançoise Hampson, Professor of the University of Essex, stated, "This book is of fundamental importance to all civil servants within the Council of Europe member States and within the Council of Europe itself who need to understand where and why the problems of implementation of the Convention are arising in the Russian Federation," which suggests a more permanent and long term solution to the overload of the ECHR than the commonly known reform of the Court. Despite the fact that the Russian constitution recognizes the domestic status of the Convention, a status that is indeed higher than that of any federal law and which commands that the Convention be applied if there is a conflict between the Convention and a national law, jurists continue to face tremendous barriers. Their efforts to obtain the recognition and the application by national courts of the norms of the Convention as well as the case-law of the ECHR are being undermined by a number of obstacles which are explicitly demonstrated by the author, as well as good examples of the Convention application by the Russian court. This book also clearly explores the specific instruments of the Russian legal system that permit the domestic application of the Convention as well as putting forward practical solutions to those obstacles. Offered as guidelines, those solutions can benefit the work of all judicial professionals and help protect the fundamental rights and freedom of Russian citizens at the national level. The author Dr Anton Burkov, jurist and scholar, has put into this book his knowledge and his front line experience of the use of the guaranties of the Convention in Russian courts. Dr Burkov has worked for more than 12 years as a staff attorney and project coordinator for the Urals Centre for Constitutional and International Protection of Human Rights of the NGO Sutyajnik, as well as having recently completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge. The publication of his thesis in the form of this new book was eagerly awaited by Russian law and ECHR specialists. Professor Bill Bowring wrote last year: "Burkov is now completing his PhD at Cambridge University and his results are eagerly awaited" (Journal of Law and Society 36, 2 (2009): 282-287). An absolute basic to any judicial professional in the human rights field, this work by Dr Anton Burkov has been nominated for the prestigious York Prize, awarded every year during the month of April by the University of Cambridge. This book is in Russian and is available at http://www.wolters-kluwer.ru/catalogue/34373.html. The central thesis of this book will be available in English later this year in Burkov A., “The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Russian Legal System” in The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Central and Eastern Europe. (Utrecht: Eleven International Publishing.) Forthcoming in 2010. The author could be contacted by e-mail ab636 at cantab.net or by phone +7-9126576655    

Start Date: 2005/10.

End Date: 2009/07.

law degree (Ural State Law Academy, Russia, 1999)

non-degree programme at Columbia University (USA, 2002)

LL.M (University of Essex, UK, 2004)

kandidat uridicheskikh nauk (Tumen State University, Russia, 2005)

PhD (Cantab, 2009)

For my CV please follow the link www.sutyajnik.ru/bal/docs/CV_2006.pdf

 

• The Law of the European Convention of Human Rights
• Domestic implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights in Russian courts
• Judicial review

Law Journals Articles:

1) Burkov, “Execution of Judgments on Acknowledgement of Laws Illegal”, 11/12 Grazhdanin i Pravo (Citizen and Law) (2002);

2)Burkov, “War of Courts,” 2 Grazhdanin i Pravo (Citizen and Law) (2003), 33-38.

3) Burkov, “War of Courts,” 2, 5 Grazhdanin i Pravo (Citizen and Law) (2003), 44-50;

4) Burkov, “Judicial Protection of Human Rights in its Most Efficient Forms”, 4 Arbitrazhniy i Grazhdanskiy Process (Arbitration and Civil Process) (2003), 36;

5)Burkov, “On the Administrative Justice Phenomenon”, 4 Zhurnal Rossiyskogo Prava (Journal of Russian Law) (2003), 62-68;

6) Burkov, “Judgments as a Source of Administrative Law”, 5 Arbitrazhniy i Grazhdanskiy Process (Arbitration and Civil Process) (2003), 31-34;

7) Burkov, “Legal Defence of Civil Rights Violated by Bad Laws”, in Burkov (ed.) The Most Effective Methods of Legal Defence of Human Rights. (Yekaterinburg: Sutyajnik-Press, 2003), 76-88.

8) Burkov, “European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as a Source of the Russian Administrative Law” in Implementation of International Human Rights Treaties in Russian Legal System: Materials of All-Russian Practical-scientific Conference (Yekaterinburg, Urals State Law Academy, 2003), 7-11.

9) Bakhrakh, Burkov, “Judicial Acts as Sources of Administrative Law,” 2 Zhurnal Rossiyskogo Prava (Journal of Russian Law) (2004), 11-22.

10) Burkov, “Legal Defense of Human Rights Violated by Inoperative Normative Acts,” 1 Pravovedenie, (2004). 107-117.

11) Demeneva, Burkov, “Probable Legal Consequences of Rakevich v. Russia,” Human Rights Law Review Student Supplement, 2004 (in English; the publication is pending; expected in the end of September 2004), 7-12. www.sutyajnik.ru/eng/news/2004/HRLR_Student_Supplement_2004.pdf

12) Burkov, Detention of Mentally Ill Persons in the Russian Federation under Article 5 of the ECHR, A. Umland (ed.) The Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in Russia: Philosophical, Legal, and Empirical Studies (= Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics & Society, Vol. 1), 2004. C. 111-132. www.sutyajnik.ru/cgi-bin/articles.php?pub_id=11 

13) Burkov, "Implementation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Russian Courts," Russian Law: Theory and Practice 1 (2006), 68-76 (in PDF file, 3,8 Mb) www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/articles/2006/russian_law_2006.pdf

14) Burkov, "Compulsory Hospitalisation of Persons of Unsound Mind in Accordance with Article 5," EHRAC Bulletin 6 (Winter 2006), 1-3. (in English http://ehracmos.memo.ru/bulletin/EHRAC%20Bulletin%206%20ENG.pdf / in Russian http://ehracmos.memo.ru/bulletin/EHRAC%20Bulletin%206%20RUS.pdf)

15) "The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights case-law," Human Rights. The case-law of the European Court of Human rights. 3 (36) March 2009. P. 18-22. (In Russian). Available www.sutyajnik.ru/articles/297.html

Books:

1) Burkov (ed.) The Most Effective Methods of Legal Defence of Human Rights: Materials of Regional Practical-scientific Conference. (Yekaterinburg: Sutyajnik-Press, 2003) www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/sud_zaschita.pdf

2) Demeneva, Burkov (eds.), The Constitution of the Russian Federation: 10 Years of Implementation: Digest of Cases on the Russian Constitution, (Yekaterinburg: Urals University Press, 2004), www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/konst_10_let_primen/constitution_sutyajnik_10.pdf ISBN 5-7525-1230-1

3) Burkov, Legal Defence of Citizens’ Rights against Unconstitutional Laws, (Yekaterinburg, Ural University Press, 2005). 180 p. (Judicial Practice and Human Rights series; Vol. 2), http://sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/sud_zasch/release_eng.htm ISBN 5-7525-1452-5

4) Burkov, ed., Primenenie Evropeiskoi Konvencii o Zaschite Prav Cheloveka v Sudah Rossii (Ekaterinburg: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta, 2006), 210-220, (Domestic application of the European Convention on Human Rights in Russian Courts) http://sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/echr6/release_eng.htm ISBN 5-7525-1570-X

5) BOOK IN ENGLISH: Burkov, The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Russian Law (Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-89821-639-X) http://www.sutyajnik.ru/bal/ibidem

6) A. Burkov, The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in Russian Courts (in Russian), Moscow: Wolters Kluwer, 2010, http://sutyajnik.ru/bal/wolters

7) FORTHCOMING BOOK (2010) "The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Central and Eastern Europe." Edited by Ralf Alleweldt, Frank Emmert, Leonard Hammer and Isabel Marcus for publication by Eleven International Publishing, Utrecht. Dr. Anton Burkov contributed a chapter on the ECHR and the Russian legal system.

Professor David Feldman

Dr Mark Elliott (Internal Examiner)
and
Judge of the European Court of Human Rights Professor Anatoli Kovler (External Examiner)