Yesterday the ECtHR refused to hear all remaining complaints from Russians. The only exceptions were cases relating to armed conflicts involving Russia.
“Exiles” founder Mikhail Beniash is convinced this is “very, very, very bad for justice.”
“Reviewing the whole array of complaints from Russia — varied, complex, turbulent, unfamiliar to Europe — would have been a benefit to Europe itself. And when some shameless populist politician in Europe, with Napoleonic ambitions, starts using Putin’s already developed, tested and effective methods for imposing dictatorship, he would run into legal positions the ECtHR had ALREADY worked out. And European lawyers would ALREADY have a tool to fight for their rights. And they would be spared having to do work that lawyers from Russia have ALREADY done,” he explained.
Mikhail stressed that Russian lawyers have valuable experience working with the ECtHR, “which Europe would do well to appreciate, adopt, and use.”
Elizaveta Krivtsova — a lawyer from Latvia who has joined “Exiles” — points out that Russian lawyers in emigration can continue working with the ECtHR. The Court’s rules allow special permission to be granted to claimants’ representatives without advocate status, if they have a good reputation and experience working with the European Court.
Latvian lawyer Elizaveta Krivtsova:
The ECtHR Rules of Court (§ 36, Rules of Court) provide that, once a complaint has been communicated, the applicant may be represented either by an advocate or by a person who has obtained special permission.
That is, one normally has to be an advocate entitled to practice in one of the Council of Europe’s member states. However, Russian advocate status generally doesn’t convert into advocate status in another country.
But there is a way out. Rule 36 contains paragraph 4(a), which allows a judge to permit a representative without advocate status to take part in the proceedings, if doing so serves the interests of the proper administration of justice.
And recently I managed to obtain exactly such permission while representing my client’s interests. The Court sent me the corresponding notice.
So Russian lawyers in emigration do have the opportunity to draw on their accumulated experience and reputation to represent clients’ interests before the ECtHR.
While Elizaveta Krivtsova says that the Court’s current rules allow a lawyer to ask to be recognized as a representative — and that the odds of a positive decision are good — Mikhail Beniash believes it’s necessary to amend the ECtHR’s Rules of Court.
The amendments he proposes would guarantee unconditional access to the Court for lawyers from third countries (Russia and Belarus, in particular) that fall outside the jurisdiction of the [European] Convention on Human Rights, in cases where they file complaints with the ECtHR against countries that do comply with the Convention. Mikhail reached out to the Russian delegation to PACE and to Russia’s Anti-War Committee for support, but received no response.
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