BHC Legal Programme Director receives International Human Rights Award

Yonko Grozev receives the award in recognition of his role in promoting the rule of law and furthering the development of constitutional democracy in Bulgaria

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Yonko Grozev, the director of the Legal Defence Programme of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, has been awarded the 2002 International Human Rights Award from the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. The other honouree of the award is the Cambodian Defenders Project, the largest legal services provider in Cambodia. The ABA Section of Litigation is dedicated to promoting justice both domestically and internationally and to enhancing public understanding of and respect for the legal profession.

Yonko Grozev and the Cambodian Defenders Project will receive their awards during the ABA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on August 10.

The International Human Rights Award recognises those who have made extraordinary contributions to the causes of human rights, the rule of law, and the promotion of access to justice. Yonko Grozev receives the award in recognition of his human rights advocacy and litigation efforts and contributions. "Through his litigation in both domestic and transnational courts and his lecturing and writing on human rights advocacy and impact litigation, Yonko Grozev is playing a central role in promoting the rule of law and furthering the development of constitutional democracy in Bulgaria," says the ABA in its news release.

Yonko Grozev has been the director of the Legal Defence Programme of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee since its establishment in 1995. In the past five years, he has filed and won more cases before the European Court of Human Rights than any other lawyer in Central and Eastern Europe. "As program director, Yonko Grozev has been a champion of freedom of expression, freedom of religion, access to justice, the right to a fair trial, accountability for police violence, and ending racial discrimination," says the ABA news release. The cases he has litigated internationally include Velikova v. Bulgaria, Varbanov v. Bulgaria, Hasan and Chaush v. Bulgaria, Nikolova v. Bulgaria (in cooperation with attorney-at-law Ekimdjiev), Al Nashif and Others v. Bulgaria (in cooperation with attorney-at-law Yaneva), Angelova v. Bulgaria, as well as Kovachev v. Bulgaria, which was decided by the Committee of Ministers. All these cases have produced and continue to produce legislative changes and changes in public sentiments to human rights in general.

In addition to his work before the European Court of Human Rights and domestic litigation, Yonko Grozev also coordinates cases before the Bulgarian Constitutional Court when human rights issues are at stake and organises trainings to CEE lawyers on litigation techniques before the ECHR. top