Commission de Venise du Conseil de l'Europe

Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic Latvia

EDUCATION

• 2010 LL.D in Public International Law, Lund University (Sweden)
• 1997 – 1998 LL.M in Human Rights, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
• 1991 – 1995 Lawyer and Bachelor of Law, University of Latvia (Latvia)

WORK EXPERIENCE   

• Since 2024 Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia
• 2015 – 2024 Judge of the European Court of Human Rights
• 2008 – 2015 Prorector, Riga Graduate School of Law
• 1999 – 2019 Lecturer, Docent, Associate Professor, Riga Graduate School of Law
• 1995 – 2001 Deputy Director, Acting Director of the Human Rights Institute of the University of Latvia, Faculty of Law; Chief Editor of the Latvian Human Rights Quarterly
• 1993 – 1995 Senior Adviser in the Division of Case-Law and Research, Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia

PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT

• Since 2024 Substitute member of the Venice Commission 
• 2012 – 2015 and since 2024 Ad hoc Judge in the European Court of Human Rights
• Since 2019 Member of the editorial board of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law (Brill)
• 2010 – 2013 and 2015 – 2018 Expert of the Latvian Council of Science
• 2007 – 2013 Member of the Constitutional Rights Committee of the President of the Republic of Latvia
• 2007 – 2012 Alternate member in the Management Board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Universities

• 2013 – 2015 Master’s course Changing European Human Rights Law, Deusto University (Spain)
• 2012 Master’s course International Protection of Human Rights (co-teacher) and thesis supervision at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
• 1999 – 2015 Lectures and seminars in Human Rights courses at the Riga Graduate School of Law; seminars in International Law, Constitutional Law, International Dispute Settlement courses
• 2000 – 2002 Assistant Teacher at the University of Latvia in the Online Course on the International Protection of Human Rights, administered by the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University (Finland)
• 1996 – 2002 Lectures and seminars in Human Rights courses at the University of Latvia; lectures and seminars in International Law course

International training programmes

• 2002 and 2024 Council of Europe expert in the seminar for North Caucasus NGOs (Russia) and in the Moot Court on Human Rights and Environment for law students from Central Asia (Kazakhstan)
• 2005 – 2007 Latvian expert in the European Union EUJUST LEX Senior Management Course for Iraqi judges, police officers and prison administration (Denmark)
• 2000 – 2003 Lecturer in the Summer School for lawyers from CIS countries organised by the Human Rights Institute of the University of Latvia, Faculty of Law (Latvia)
• 2000 – 2001 Lecturer in training courses for the lawyers from CIS countries organised by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden)

National training programmes

Since 1996 Lecturer in human rights training programmes organised by the Latvian Judicial Training Centre, Riga Graduate School of Law, and other organisations for various target groups: Members of the Legal Committee of the Parliament, judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and other courts, prosecutors, lawyers, representatives of NGOs, journalists, etc.

SELECTED RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• 2012 – 2016 National contribution in research on EU Member States’ Constitutions and European Integration – led by the Centre of European Studies, Salzburg University (Austria)
• 2013 National contribution in research on the Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on the democratic changes and developments in Eastern Europe led by Julia Motoc and Ineta Ziemele
• 2011 – 2015 Senior expert (legal editor) of the national annual reports to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
• 2012 Research on the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on the case-law of the Latvian Supreme Court – commissioned by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia
• 2009 – 2012 National contribution in research Menu for Justice: Towards a European Curriculum Studiorum on Judicial Studies – led by Department of Political Science, University of Bologna (Italy)
• 2002 – 2009 The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on the Development of Legal Doctrine and Application of Legal Norms in Latvia – doctoral dissertation in Lund University (Sweden)
• 2006 Visiting researcher (6 months) at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Germany)
• 2004 – 2006 National expert for Guide for the Latvian State Language Centre led by the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• “Latvia” – S. Griller, L. Papadopoulou, R. Puff (eds.) National Constitutions and EU Integration, Hart, Oxford, 2022, 401-426.
• “Interaction between the Highest National Courts and the European Court of Human Rights: Beyond Judicial Dialogue” – L.A. Sicilianos, I.A. Motoc, R. Spano, R. Chenal (eds.) Intersecting Views on National and International Human Rights Protection, Wolf Legal Publishers, Tilburg, 2019, 589-602.   
• “Consolidating democratic changes in Latvia: the various roles of the European Convention on Human Rights” – I. Motoc, I. Ziemele (eds.) The Impact of the ECHR on Democratic Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Judicial Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016, 201-233.
• Co-author to the commentary on Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (in Latvian), Latvijas Vēstnesis, Riga, 2014, 136-232.
• M.Mits. European Convention on Human Rights in Latvia: Impact on Legal Doctrine and Application of Legal Norms, Media Tryck, Lund, 2010, 296.