Ernest Ametistov, an advocate of streamlining and liberalizing Russia's legal system, was born in Leningrad in 1934. He attended Moscow State University's law school and before the Soviet collapse, he was a member of the Memorial human rights group, which publicized abuses carried out during the communist era. In 1991, Judge Ametistov was elected to the Constitutional Court and, two years later, participated in the Constitutional Assembly when it drew up the Russian Constitution.
Interview with Mary Holland on Judge Ernest Ametistov (1934-1998)
Mary Holland is an American lawyer with Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyier in Moscow. Judge Ernest Ametistov, who died of cancer in September at the age of 64, was a member of Russia's highest court and a defender of democratic freedoms and legal reform. Together, they led a joint project in 1989 that examined human rights protections under the U.S. and USSR legal systems. The project was on the behalf of the Lawyers Committee and the Human Rights Project of the International Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity.
What was it tike to work with Judge Ametistov?
I remember meeting Judge Ametistov in the spring of 1989 in preparing for a Lawyers Committee Board visit to Moscow. He didn't know me or the Lawyers Committee yet, but was willing to meet with me and welcome me to his home. Over the years, we met many times in Moscow and New York. He was warm, very intellectually curious and very principled in his views in difficult circumstances. After he became a judge, he continued to be exceedingly interested in human rights NGOs. Judge Ametistov was a wonderful man to work with. I and the Lawyers Committee will truly miss an important friend.
Tell us about your project with Judge Ametistov.
The purpose of the joint project was to examine the institutions in the U.S. and USSR through which a citizen could protect and redress his or her legal rights. The second step was to look at the legal means or procedures by which citizens could protect their rights. Finally, the purpose of the joint work was to learn from the experiences of both nations, in the hope of better ensuring fundamental rights. In 1993, [our] reports were published together in Russian in a volume entitled Human Rights Protection in Russia and the USA: Through the Eyes of One Another.
How did you and Judge Ametistov conduct your research?
In the summer of 1990, Judge Ametistov, then a scholar at a USSR legal academy, collected materials on U.S. legal institutions, attended trials related to human rights and met with many human rights activists. In the fall of 1991 and spring of 1992, I did analogous work in the USSR and then the Russian Federation [The Lawyers Committee published Ms. Holland's work in English. The book (pictured) is entitled Human Rights and Legal Reform in the Russian Federation].
What type of impact did the joint project have?
Judge Ametistov's report in Russian on U.S. human rights protections has been avaluable milestone for the Russian legal human rights community in understanding what human rights protections exist in the U.S. The Lawyers Committee's report on Russian human rights received significant attention in the human rights and academic press.
In what other ways did Judge Ametistov affect human rights in Russia?
Judge Ametistov was one of a small group of informal advisers to the Lawyers Committee in the late 1980s and early 1990s who deeply influenced the work the Lawyers Committee did in the former Soviet Union. He was truly committed to the goals of the Lawyers Committee and he made himself available on many occasions to be of assistance. Judge Ametistov's passing is truly a loss to the movement for human rights protection in Russia today.
