On September 23, at a solemn meeting of the Academic Council, the certificate and robes of Honorary Doctor of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University were presented to the former judge of the European Court of Human Rights elected on behalf of Portugal, Professor Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque. Professor Albuquerque teaches currently at the Catholic University of Lisbon, which is among other leading European Universities.
The rector of the University, Anatoly Getman, introduced Professor Albuquerque to the members of the Academic Council and reminded that the decision to award him the title of Honorary Doctor was taken in October 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow Professor Albuquerque to come to Kharkiv. Rector Anatoliy Hetman praised Professor Albuquerque’s cooperation with the University, mentioning that Professor Albuquerque taught a course on “Business, Corporations and Human Rights” in 2020. Also in 2020, the Pravo publishing house published a collection of his individual opinions translated into Ukrainian, which received very positive reviews from Ukrainian scholars and practitioners.
In his speech, the Judge Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque thanked the University Academic Council for the high appreciation of his professional activity, as well as the Ukrainian colleagues, in particular, the Head of the Department of Criminal Procedure Professor Oksana Kaplina for the organisation of the book with the translation of his opinions. He also thanked the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for the fruitful cooperation. He stressed: “By awarding me this honorary title, your University shows the world and the Ukrainian society that you are fully committed to the protection of human rights and European constitutional values in Ukraine.”
The Academic Council was also addressed by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the University, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Horodovenko, who delivered the laudatio of the Professor Albuquerque. He praised the work of Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, for his long standing influence over the Constitucional Court of Ukraine and his remarkable contribution to the establishment of democratic constitutional values in Europe and Ukraine.
Finally, Professor Albuquerque delivered a speech on the following topic: “History and the ECHR case law”.
