Illia Chernohorenko

Illia served as the Director-General for the Rule of Law Directorate at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (2018-2019) and consulted the President of Ukraine within the dedicated commission on legal reform (2019-2020). Before this, Illia worked for the Supreme Court in Ukraine and acted as its representative in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Superior Courts Network (SCN) established under Protocol 16 to foster judicial dialogue and collaboration.

In recent years, Illia has managed various justice sector reform projects in Europe and Asia within international organisations, including the Council of Europe (more details here and here), the European Union, and the EBRD. His professional experience also includes serving as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court, Appeals Chamber (2020-2021).

Illia acts as one of the Reporters - alongside Philippa Webb, Burkhard Hess, and Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer - for the European Law Institute’s project Guiding Principles on Seizing Sanctioned Assets, led by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales (more details here and here).

He holds a master’s master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford (New College, 2021) and in International Dispute Resolution from Queen Mary University of London (Chevening Scholar, 2017). He also completed a visiting fellowship at the University of Bristol (2022–2023), focusing on inter-state applications before the European Court of Human Rights, under the supervision of Professor Sir Malcolm Evans. 

Since October 2023, Illia has been pursuing a part-time DPhil in Law, focusing on repurposing assets affiliated with aggressor states as a means of redress for human rights violations, under the supervision of Professor Freya Baetens. In January 2025, Illia joined the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights as a research resident, focusing on both his DPhil project and on inter-state applications before the ECtHR, as well as the broader implementation of ECtHR judgements against respondent states' assets.

Illia has recently published in The Times (here), the Oxford Human Rights Hub blog (here), and contributed to Foreign Policy (here). He has also recently spoken at various forums and conferences, including at the UK Parliament (more details here), Bar Council of England and Wales Annual Conference (here), Cambridge (here and here), Leiden (here), Oslo (here), Luxembourg (here), and Istanbul (here).