The Federation Council approved the appointment of Alexander Konovalov in the Constitutional Court
The Committee of the Federation Council (SF) on Constitutional Legislation on April 15 recommended the appointment of the ex-Minister of Justice and the current presidential envoy in the Constitutional Court (Constitutional Court) Alexander Konovalov to the post of judge of the Constitutional Court. Both the senators and the head of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin together admitted that this was a brilliant acquisition for the court. It also turned out at the meeting that Mr. Konovalov is already a co -author of some KS decisions: in particular, it was thanks to him in the sensational decision on the absence of a statute of limitations for anti -corruption claims of prosecutors that this rule did not apply to privatization cases.
The meeting of the profile committee of the SF passed in a warm atmosphere and more reminiscent of the meeting of old friends. Even the presidential envoy in the field of Arthur Muravyov was slightly distracted and announced that the president was representing « Konovalov’s candidacy Alexander Vladimirovich to his appointment to the post of judge of the Supreme … mm … of the Constitutional Court. »
The Chairman of the KS Valery Zorkin explained that Alexander Konovalov is an extremely happy (primarily for the Constitutional Court, of course) the combination of the highest knowledge in the field of the doctrine of law and practical skills.
“And not just knowledge, but a great desire that all this is not in the direction of the private, but that our society goes as intended and indicated according to the Constitution,” Mr. Zorkin emphasized. He noted that Mr. Konovalov participates not only in the public processes of the Constitutional Court, but also in many cases where the court makes a written decision or is limited by the definition. The head of the COP described the scientific works of the ex-minister as “the achievement of Russian science” and assured that he personally familiar with them.
The Chairman of the Committee Andrei Klishas said that he regularly finds himself with Alexander Konovalov at the same table in the Constitutional Court and may personally attest to the brilliant professional work of the candidate for judges. « Now what are your scientific interests? » – asked the senator.
Alexander Konovalov recalled that he began his career in the prosecutor’s office and over 13 years of work there not only went through all the steps of the official hierarchy, but also graduated in absentia by graduate school, devoting a dissertation to the issues of ownership in civil law. A few years ago, he even found in one of the KS solutions almost literal reproduction of the provisions of his dissertation, which was immensely touched, and now considers this fact one of the most striking milestones in his legal biography. Then Mr. Konovalov also defended his doctoral dissertation, where there was “a lot of theory”, and processed it into the book, but now he believes that it was time to implement the theory into practice. “I am inclined to think that our legislation is not so bad – after I helped to test it in the Constitutional Court for five years,” said Mr. Konovalov.
However, recently, the theory of civil law and real life have been in the “strange and contradictory symbiosis”, the Senator from Tuva Lyudmila Narusov took the floor.
“I mean decisions, including the Constitutional Court, regarding deprivatization that has begun. When civil law issues, purchase and sale, are transferred to the sphere of criminal law. What do you, as a theoretician, think about it? » She asked the guest.
If we are talking about a recent decision of the Constitutional Court to non -proliance of the statute of limitations for the claims of the prosecutor to demand property of officials, then he personally is deeply convinced of his “theoretical impeccability”, assured Senator Alexander Konovalov. From the point of view of a lawyer, the claims of the prosecutor are definitely not a civil law institution, and therefore it is impossible to extend to them the statute of limitations used in civil law. The fact that they are considered in civil proceedings is rather from the lack of another order, the president’s plenipotentiary explained: “It’s another matter that, probably, it is necessary to somehow limit the procedure for presenting these requirements.”
Here Valery Zorkin considered it necessary to clarify that it was thanks to the legal position that Mr. Konovalov occupied, the CS in his decision directly recorded a “small note” that his conclusions regarding corruption did not automatically apply to the disputes about privatization. And Andrei Klishas recalled that when he was the Minister of Justice, Alexander Konovalov did a lot in order to “display” the duty that the lawmakers accumulated regarding the execution of the KS decisions: partly the problem remains, but the scale is already incomparable, the senator noted.
“This is a unique personality, a brilliant lawyer, there is nothing to complain about, even if you really want to,” the general former Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, Senator from Chuvashia Nikolai Fedorov, summed up the general mood of the Russian Federation. “There would be more such judges in the Russian Federation at all levels, and then it would be easier for a person with the soul of a lawyer,” he said dreamily and admitted: “Srightly sings, sorry for emotionality!”
