Ioannis Ktistakis was elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights
On January 26, 2021, Mr. Ioannis Ktistakis professor at the Law School of the Democritus University of Thrace and a lawyer, was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as the Greek judge in the European Court of Human Rights, replacing Mr. Linos -Alexandros Sicilianos.
The new Greek judge is well known in the field of human rights with a successful career and a deep knowledge of the European Convention on Human Rights, having been the author and the co-author of many books (62) and articles in Greek, French and English. He has also defended many important cases before the Strasbourg Court, and he has great experience in the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr. Ioannis Ktistakis was born on January 3, 1971 in Athens. He holds a law degree from the Democritus University of Thrace (1993). He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science, Institute of Political Sciences, University Robert Schuman, Strasbourg (France) (1995) and a Master’s degree in Legal Theory, European Academy of Legal Theory, Katholieke Universiteit Brussels & Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, Brussels (Belgium) (1996).
He was awarded with a Doctorate degree in law by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2003, “Religious liberty under the European Convention of Human Rights”). He then conducted a postdoctoral research at Democritus University of Thrace (2006, “NGOs before international courts”).
He is an Associate Professor Dr., Faculty of Law, Democritus University of Thrace (Komotini, Greece) and a Supreme Court Lawyer specializing in international human rights protection.
As a Lawyer, he has defended more than 50 individual applications before the European Court of Human Rights, three of them before the Grand Chamber, which has taken important decisions: Makaratzis (20.12.2004), Sitaropoulos and Giakoumopoulos (15.3.2012) and Molla Sali (19.12.2018). He has also defended the following collective complaint before the European Committee of Social Rights: International Federation for Human Rights v. Greece (5.6.2013).
He is a Substitute Member of the Venice Commission (“European Commission for the Democracy through Law”) of the Council of Europe (2019-). He had also been:
a) an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul (Turkey) (2012-2015)
b) a Lecturer, Greek National School for the Judiciary (2000, 2001, 2004, 2013-2018)
c) a Substitute Member of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (2004-2006)
d) a Member of the Executive Board of European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Intolerance (EU) (2004-2006)
e) a Member of the Greek Equal Treatment Committee (2005-2006)
f) a member of the European network of legal experts in the non-discrimination field (2005-2008)
The Strasbourg Court requires the judges to be open-minded and have the strong willingness to implement, defend and develop the protective scope of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the ECHR.
Mr. Ktistakis is a great scientist with plenty of knowledge and experience in the field of human rights. Regarding his timeless and pluralistic work, everyone can perceive his vision of developing the interpretation of the rights provided in the ECHR, which leads to the renewal of ECHR’S case-law.
The echrcaselaw.com wishes him good luck in his difficult task. He certainly has great potential…
