Boris Ebzeyev

Early life and education

A Karachay, Ebzeyev was born in the village of Janga Jere, Frunze Region of Soviet Kirghizia (now part of the Sokuluk District, Chüy Region, Kyrgyzstan). His family, like many other Karachays, had been forcibly relocated there in 1943. They were able to return to their ancestral homeland in 1957. After graduating from secondary school in Karachayevsk, he subsequently worked there as a carpenter and concrete worker for a construction firm to gain the required work experience for law school admission. In 1972, he graduated from the Saratov Institute of Law with an honors degree, and later on, he completed his postgraduate studies at the same institute ahead of schedule. He received a Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D. equal) and a Doctor of Sciences (habilitation) degrees in constitutional law in 1975 and 1989, respectively.

Upon completing his postgraduate studies, he fulfilled his mandatory military service from 1975 to 1976 in the Soviet internal troops. Beginning in 1977, he held a series of positions at his alma mater.

Judicial career

On 30 October 1991, he was elected a judge of the Russian Constitutional Court by the 5th Congress of People's Deputies, having been nominated by representatives of the republics within Russia.^[1] In 1993, he participated in the Constitutional Conference and served on its commission tasked with finalizing the draft of the new Russian Constitution. He was also a co-author of the Federal Constitutional Law "On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation".

Throughout his tenure, he frequently wrote dissenting opinions. In the landmark "Communist Party Case" of 1992, Judge Ebzeyev's dissenting opinion focused extensively on the criteria for declaring a political party unconstitutional—a question the Constitutional Court majority had declined to address. For Ebzeyev, the protection of human rights was a paramount criterion. He argued that the Court had acted prematurely in upholding the constitutionality of the presidential decrees that dissolved the Communist Party.

Again in 1995, he issued a strong dissent when the Court upheld the constitutionality of two pivotal presidential decrees from 1993 and 1994: one outlining the fundamental provisions of Russia's military doctrine, and the other authorizing measures to restore constitutional order and law enforcement in the Chechen Republic (see First Chechen War). Ebzeyev contended that the stated goals of these decrees could not justify the severe consequences that followed their implementation. He maintained that the Court was obligated to assess the decrees not in the abstract, but in the context of their real-world impact.

Political career

In 1999, he ran for President of Karachay-Cherkessia but was eliminated after the first round of voting.

On 30 July 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev nominated Boris Ebzeyev to the People's Assembly of Karachay-Cherkessia to be confirmed as the republic's president. The Assembly approved his appointment on 5 August 2008.

He stepped down on 26 February 2011, at his own request.^[2] His resignation was reportedly prompted by concerns that "the socio-economic situation in Karachay-Cherkessia and the measures implemented by the regional authorities were insufficient to meet the objectives set by the federal president".^[3][4][5]

He has been a member of the Central Election Commission since March 2011.^[6] On 25 December 2017, at the Commission's 118th session, he presented the draft resolution that denied registration to the initiative group seeking to nominate Alexei Navalny as a candidate for the Russian presidency.^[7]