Sergei Poduzov is co-chair of the human rights organization People and the Law [Chelovek i Zakon], leading the group’s work with human rights defenders, coordinating collaborative activities with law enforcement authorities, and rendering legal assistance in individual human rights cases. Sergei Poduzov is a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Mari El. He is also a member of the Coordinating Council on Human Rights of the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District and a chair of the Public Monitoring Commission, responsible for supervising the observance of human rights in places of detention on the territory of the Republic of Mari El. Sergei Poduzov began working as a lawyer with the Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Mari El in 1998. In September of 1999, he became a founding member of the human rights organization, People and the Law. People and the Law currently works in several regions of the Russian Federation and has run more than 500 human rights training seminars for public authorities. Sergei Poduzov is a graduate of the Higher Course on Human Rights of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw.