Lionel Blackman is director of the UK-based Solicitors International Human Rights Group. Since 2005 he has been visiting on a regular basis Belarus and Russia as a trainer in fair trial rights and criminal law. He is the author of several in-depth international trial observation reports. In order to tackle the MP’s hostility to the European Convention of Human Rights, Lionel stood against the Justice Minister Chris Grayling in the UK Parliamentary Election of 2015.