№4 (13)

Indeed, the sequence number – 13 – of the current issue of the «Human Rights. Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights» journal is the number of the anniversary issue: it was exactly a year ago, in April 2006, that the first issue of the journal was published, the journal being founded by the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation and the International Union of Jurists.

During the past year the journal attained renown not only in Russia but abroad as well. Our readers comprise, inter alia, judges and staff members of the European Court of Human Rights.

The journal becomes a discussion place for an exchange of opinions of all those, who are not indifferent to the issues of human rights protection in the context of implementation of the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights: twelve issues of the journal contain articles by renowned Russian and foreign authors, which discussed essential issues of the activity of the European Court of Human Rights and of the protection of human rights in the European legal arena.

We familiarised our readers with biographies of all judges of the European Court. We provide a monthly chronicle of judgments and decisions of the Court in the applications against Russia. The journal publishes information materials about the structure and activity of the Council of Europe institutions related to the protection of human rights. We constantly keep our readers posted on the events in this realm expeditiously publishing the relevant press releases by the Council of Europe.

And most certainly in each issue of the journal we publish full texts of judgments and decisions delivered by the European Court in most interesting and essential cases, both in applications against Russia and other member States of the Council of Europe.

The European Court of Human Rights is currently in the phase of its periodic reforming. This international institution is quite important and necessary in the mechanism of the protection of human rights; however, as any other organisation, it needs, with the time, certain changes and corrections, which should be maximum circumspect and balanced.

Mr Erik Fribergh, the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights has published his article concerning the reforms of the European Court (see «Why the European Court of Human Rights needs Protocol No. 14» in the 2nd issue of the journal, 2007). Now we are happy to be provided with an opportunity to see the answer of the first person on the European Court to the question «Where the European Court of Human Rights is heading for?»: an interview of Mr Jean-Paul Costa, the new President of the European Court of Human Rights, will be published in the next issues of the journal.

We hope that other authors will also contribute to our journal on this issue of utmost importance.

 

Vitaly Portnov

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