On behalf of the Sakharov Program on Human Rights, I am pleased to announce the arrival of Natalia Sidorova and Ksenia Tishkova, the fall 2006 recipients of the Sakharov Fellowship, now in its second semester. 

Natalia Sidorova, a native of Tomsk, belongs to the law faculty of Tomsk State University, from which she earned a Ph.D., specializing in criminal procedure.  From 1999, she interned at such institutions as the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Tomsk and the Moscow University of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia. Previously she was awarded a year-long research grant by the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. Professor Sidorova has published twelve articles in legal publications and a monograph on the appeals process in Russian criminal procedure.

At the Davis Center, Professor Sidorova will study the procedure of sentences review in the United States, aiming to compile recommendations for revisions to the criminal procedure code of Russia.  Ultimately she intends to submit these recommendations to the legislative committee of the State Duma.  More generally, Professor Sidorova aspires to help nurture a new generation of attorneys and legal scholars in Russia.

Ksenia Tishkova, from Barnaul in Altai Krai, is a graduate student in Barnaul Pedagogical University’s department of linguistics and international communication.  She is also a fifth-year student in the department of general medicine at Altai State Medical University and a nurse at Public Hospital No. 1.  For some three years, Ms. Tishkova has been actively involved in the domestic violence prevention program of the Altai Regional Family Planning Organization, and in Women’s Alliance, a human-rights organization in Barnaul.  A graduate of the Glazunov Music School, she also participates regularly in benefit concerts and festivals.

During her fellowship, Ms. Tishkova will study the mechanisms of domestic violence prevention and methods of protecting its victims. She hopes that the results of her American research will benefit the work of the NGOs she collaborates with in Russia.

Please join me in extending to Professor Sidorova and Ms. Tishkova a very warm welcome and best wishes for a productive and enjoyable semester.

Tatiana Yankelevich, Director
Sakharov Program on Human Rights