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On 21 February 2007, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly took a decision to re-appoint Mr Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev to the post of the President of the Russian Federation Supreme Court. Mr Lebedev presides over Russia’s Supreme Court since the year of 1989. Candidature of Mr Lebedev was proposed to the upper chamber of the parliament by Mr Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian Federation President. Mr Lebedev presides over Russia’s Supreme Court since the year of 1989.
On 12 February 2007, Mr Veniamin Fyodorovich Yakovlev, Adviser to the Russian Federation President, an eminent Russian jurist, immediate past President of the Russian Federation High Court of Arbitrage, celebrated his 75th birthday.
We congratulate Mr Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev and Mr Veniamin Fyodorovich Yakovlev, Members of the Editorial Council of the «Human Rights. Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights» Journal.
On 19 January 2007, the European Court of Human Rights held an official ceremony of opening of the judicial year. The new President of the Court, Mr Jean-Paul Costa, delivered a major speech at the ceremony. The text of the speech is published in this issue.
Mr Erik Fribergh, the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights, is the author of the article «Why the European Court of Human Rights needs Protocol No. 14», which has been written specially for our journal. Readers can read it in original (in English) and in translation to Russian. I may not necessarily agree with all propositions of the author, but the article is quite timely and interesting. The Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was the subject of discussion in the Editor’s columns and articles by our authors (see 2006 issues nos. 7 and 8). Whatever might be the fate of the Protocol No. 14, there is no doubt the work to further perfect the Convention should continue. The European Court is an important institution in the European system to protect human rights and the Court’s effective functioning is necessary both for the High Contracting Parties and individuals residing in their territories. It is not coincident that Mr Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian Federation President, while meeting with members of the Council to Promote Development of the Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, emphasised:
«…I hope that, jointly with international judicial instances, we will find an acceptable solution that would enable to improve the work of the Strasbourg Court, would enable us to cooperate closer and tighter, although Russia is not downsizing the amount of its cooperation with the Strasbourg Court and works there fully as it did before. But, together with colleagues from the Strasbourg Court, we will think how to perfect this joint activity».
The issue of the journal contains, as is customary, translations of most essential judgments of the Court, as well as statistical information about the Court (for October 2006) and the monthly chronicle of cases against Russia (for December 2006).
We kindly direct attention of our readers that starting from January 2007 journals «Human Rights. Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights» and «Russia’s Justice» are published by a different publishing house, whose details are found on the third page of the journal’s cover.

Vitaly Portnov

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