A human rights victory in Russia!

Dr. Anton Burkov is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Human Rights Practice program. Anton has been involved with innovative online programming to empower human rights activism and application of human rights law through his ECHR-Navigator and NGO Strategic Litigation Center. Anton recently shared some news with us about one of his successful students. Congratulations to Elina and to Anton!

Elina Kuular has been an Strategic Litigation Center/ECHR-Navigator student for 3 years, and took all the courses. She is a school teacher who defended her brother as she was unhappy with the defense performed by the attorneys of the case. Elina took the defense into her own hands, and turned to ECHR-Navigator which she heavily relied upon.

In February 2023, her brother was sentenced to forced labor, and not 15 years of imprisonment as charged. In Russia, where there are no acquittals, this essentially means that she achieved a “sort of” acquittal for her brother! By the time Elina, the school teacher, successfully defended her brother, she received a law degree. Next summer she will resign from school to become an attorney to defend others.