Illia Chernohorenko

Illia served as the Director-General of the Rule of Law Directorate at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and as a member of the Commission on Legal Reform for the President of Ukraine. 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, over the recent years, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His professional experience also includes serving as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court, Appeals Chamber.

Illia acts as one of the Reporters - alongside Professor Philippa Webb KC, Professor Burkhard Hess, and Professor Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer - for the European Law Institute’s project ELI Guiding Principles on Seizing and Confiscating 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 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), EJIL: Talk! (here), OpinioJuris (here and 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 and here), Bar Council of England and Wales Annual Conference (here), Cambridge (here and here), Leiden (here), Oslo (here), Luxembourg (here), Istanbul (here), Oxford (here), and Ottawa (here and here).