Dmitry Utukin

Russia, CAHR, Autumn 2011‎

My name is Dmitry. I work for the Russian interregional NGO "Committee Against Torture". For more than 11 years we have carried out public investigations, represented interests in court and in investigation bodies, and provided medical aid for victims of torture, ill treatment and abductions. I have worked for the Committee Against Torture as a consultant on international law since 2006. My main focus is applying the ECHR, but I have also organised several human rights trainings for lawyers, judges and policemen.

I have organised several human rights trainings for lawyers, judges and policemen.

Since November 2009 I have been actively participating in joint mobile groups in the Chechen Republic established by the Committee Against Torture. These groups were created after the assassination of Natalya Estemirova in order to receive proven information relating to human rights violations in the Chechen Republic. It consists of members of different Russian human rights organisations. In connection with this, the lawyers of the mobile group carry out public investigations, and represent the legal interests of citizens who have been granted a victim status in criminal cases. All cases we have taken are linked with the Head of the Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, or his inner circle. They mainly deal with issues of impunity. This activity was recognized by PACE, Frontline and the Russian Ombudsman in 2011.

In York I worked on a project for Russian lawyers entitled “European case law as a spring board of a lawyer’s career”. CAHR students helped me to research practices of using European courts at a domestic level in countries of the former USSR and the former East Bloc. The project will become a workshop program which can help lawyers use European case law in domestic practice. We believe that it will be able to decrease the numbers of claims against Russia in the ECtHR and to protect human rights in Russia.

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