Rights in Russia

This week our guest on the podcast is Vanessa Kogan, director of the Legal Initiative Project. Over the years, the project's lawyers have provided legal assistance to thousands of people. The Legal Initiative Project is one of the leading organisations in Russia in terms of the number of applications it has brought to the European Court of Human Rights; the organisation has won more than 250 cases...

This week our guest on the podcast is Yulia Fedotova, a lawyer with a PhD in law from the city of Ekaterinburg. The issues discussed in the podcast include: the legal profession; legal specialization; the Russian judicial system; successful legal cases; major human rights problems in Russia today; the role of the European Court of Human Rights; the recent constitutional amendments; Russia and the...

This week our guest on the podcast is Veronika Lapina, a human rights activist and friend of Team 29. The issues discussed on the podcast include: Team 29 - what it is and what it does; the extent to which NGOs or other associations can operate under current conditions in Russia; the main areas in which Team 29 works; the case of Ivan Pavlov; new laws in Russia on education, on extremist organizat...

This week our guest on the Russian-language podcast is Stefan Melle, director of the German NGO Deutsch-Russischer Austausch (German-Russian Exchange), which is based in Berlin. Stefan is a journalist, an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, and a leader of Russian-German and European projects to strengthen civil society, media, education, social and environmental issues. He is one of the initiato...

This week our guest on the podcast is Kirill Koroteev. Kirill is head of international legal practice at the Agora International Human Rights Group. Kirill used to work as legal director of the Memorial Human Rights Center, where he specialised in handling cases before the European Court of Human Rights. Kirill graduated from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and has a Masters degree from t...

This week our guest on the podcast is Sergei Davidis, a member of the board of the Memorial Human Rights Centre and director of the Centre's programme in support of political prisoners. The questions discussed in the podcast include: Sergei Davidis'  recent prosecution and jailing ['administrative arrest']; conditions of detention; application to the European Court of Human Rights; numbers of...

This week our guest on the podcast is Elena Pershakova. Elena is head of the Legal Practice for Fundamental Freedoms department at the Public Verdict Foundation. She has been involved in human rights activities since 1999 and began her career in Perm.  The questions discussed in the podcast include: freedom of conscience in Perm and in Russia (about Jehovah's Witnesses); how Russia's regions...

This week our guest on the podcast is Tatiana Glushkova. Tatiana is a lawyer with Memorial Human Rights Centre, a member of the programme, Human Rights Protection Using International Mechanisms, a member of the coordinating council of the Project to Provide Legal Aid to Transgender People and of the board of the ‘Stumul’ LGBT group. The questions discussed in the podcast include: what it means to...

This week our guest on the podcast is Aleksandr Peredruk, a lawyer from St Petersburg and member of the St Petersburg Bar Association. Aleksandr Peredruk is currently working with 'Apologia Protesta', Agora's project to provide legal assistance to people participating in peaceful assemblies. The questions discussed in the podcast include: the recent arrest of the lawyer  Ivan Pavlov; how Alek...

This week our guest on the podcast is Olga Sadovskaya from the Nizhny Novgorod-based human rights organisation Committee against Torture. Olga Sadovskaya is the head of the organisation's international protection department. Established in 2000, the Committee against Torture has undergone many changes but continues to be one of the leading human rights organisations in Russia working to prevent to...

This week our guest on the podcast is Damir Gainutdinov, PhD in law, head of the 'Online Freedoms' Project at Agora international human rights group and an expert on freedom of expression and the Internet. The questions the podcast discusses are: the internet and traditional media; how free is the Runet today; the vulnerability of social media users to administrative or criminal prosecution; why t...

This week our guest on the podcast is Anita Soboleva, lawyer, lecturer and researcher and associate professor. Anita formerly worked as chief lawyer at the NGO JURIX (Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms). She has been a member of the Moscow region bar association since 2002. Until November 2019 Anita served two tersms as a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights. The podcast...

This week our guests on the podcast are Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov, well-known Russian journalists, creators of the website  Agentura .ru  and authors of the books  The New Nobility ,  The Red Web  and  The Compatriots . The topics we discuss on the podcast include: journalism in contemporary Russia; journalists’s safety; the role of Russia’s secret services do...

This week our guest on the podcast is the well-known journalist Vera Sergeevna Vasilieva. The topics we discuss on the podcast include: human rights journalism in Russia, political prisoners, the ‘foreign agent’ law, Radio Liberty, Aleksei Pichugin, Aleksei Navalny, other landmark court cases, recent amendments to the Russian constitution, crisis in Russia, atmosphere of hate, historical trends re...

Simon & Sergei - with Sergei Golubok. Part Four: Lawyers, Precedents, The Future, Political Reform, Young People, Graffiti, Books

Simon & Sergei - with Sergei Golubok. Part Three: Judicial reforms in Russia in the 1990s;  Constitutional amendments of 2020; Public opinion in Russia; Relations with the Council of Europe

Simon & Sergei - with Sergei Golubok. Part Two:  European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe, International Law

Simon & Sergei - with Sergei Golubok. Part One: Becoming a lawyer (barrister/advokat); human rights; the rule of law.

This week our guest on the podcast is Sergei Golubok, a lawyer [advokat] from St. Petersburg. The topics we discuss on the podcast include: how to become a lawyer; lawyers and human rights; the rule of law; the European Court of Human Rights; conflicts between national and international law; impact of the reforms of the 1990s on the Russian legal system; the significance of the constitutional amen...

Part Three: The Future of Russia, the Constitution, Legislation, Law Enforcement

Part Two: Threats, Moscow and the regions, human rights lawyers, Public Oversight Commissions and Human Rights Ombudsmen, the European Court of Human Rights, Aleksei Navalny.

The start of a career; Yaroslavl investigations; torture in penal colonies.

This week our guest on the podcast is Irina Biriukova, a lawyer at the Public Verdict Foundation. The issues we discuss with Irina include: getting started as a lawyer in Russia; work at the Civic Assistance Committee and Public Verdict Foundation; her most important court cases; combating torture in Yaroslavl penal colonies; the difference between human rights work in Moscow and the regions; othe...

  Jens Siegert on the future of Russia; a new book; some key Russian words.

Jens Siegert on EU-Russia relations, economic and political.