The professor was brought to court

The President found a candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that senators approve Alexander Boytsov, a teacher at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University, as a new judge of the Constitutional Court. The professor of the Department of Criminal Law of the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University will take the place of the retiring Vladimir Strekozov in the Constitutional Court. The Federation Council is already openly saying that Mr. Boytsov’s candidacy will be approved.

On May 12, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation Vladimir Strekozov turned 70 years old, and by law he can no longer work as a judge of the Constitutional Court, which he has been since 1994. In 2002, Mr. Strekozov was elected, and in 2005, re-elected as Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court. During his time in the legal system, he wrote more than one hundred scientific papers. Author of the textbook for universities “Soviet State Law” and the textbook “Constitutional Law of Russia”. Awarded an order and nine medals.

The candidate to replace him, 59-year-old Alexander Boytsov, has a standard biography of a university teacher. In 1978, he graduated from Leningrad State University named after A.A. Zhdanov. Specializes in criminal law. And since 1981 he has been working at the corresponding department. In 1982 he defended his candidate's thesis, in 1996 - his doctorate. He wrote about fifty scientific papers. He worked in the working group to create a model Criminal Code for the CIS member states. Students speak of Mr. Boytsov as a dry and demanding person.

Alexander Boytsov will be another representative of St. Petersburg State University, promoted to the elite of the judicial community by the team of St. Petersburgers currently in power. But it cannot be said that Dmitry Medvedev, who previously managed to introduce three future judges of the Constitutional Court to the Federation Council, promotes only St. Petersburg residents. For example, the judge of the Constitutional Court Sergei Knyazev completed full-time graduate school at Leningrad State University in the early eighties of the last century, and he studied at the Far Eastern State University and his further scientific and teaching activities were connected with this university. Another judge appointed on Mr. Medvedev's behalf, Alexander Kokotov, worked at the Sverdlovsk Law Institute. Only Konstantin Aranovsky studied in graduate school and defended his PhD at Leningrad State University at the same time as the current President of Russia.

Alexander Boytsov himself did not comment to Vremya Novostey on his nomination for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court, considering it unethical until the senators considered his candidacy. The constitutional law committee of the upper house of parliament explained to Vremya Novostey that they are waiting for a meeting with Mr. Boytsov, and after the conversation they are ready to approve his candidacy at the next meeting, which will take place on July 14.

Mikhail TELEKHOV, St. Petersburg