MOSCOW, March 12 - RAPSI. The Justice Ministry believes that the results and the procedure of a competition to fill the judge position for Russia at the European Court of Human Rights are legal, Ministry representative Dmitry Shishkin said during a hearing at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on Monday.

The court is hearing the lawsuit filed by Karina Moskalenko, the attorney of former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, against the procedure and the results of the competition.

Moskalenko seeks to re-hold the competition.

The plaintiff now wants the Ministry to submit the selection criteria for the competition committee. The requirements for judge candidates are set by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Moskalenko maintains that the European court's report on the competition was issued only on August 3, although the application deadline set by the Justice Ministry expired on August 1.

Media reported that the European court's ad hoc judge Andrei Bushev, who was involved in the YUKOS vs. Russia case, and Russian Supreme Commercial Court judges Dmitry Dedov and Lyudmila Novosyolova, ended up on the final list.

An international commission has started considering the candidates on March 1 and it is expected to submit its decision to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by April 13.

The European Court of Human Rights is the international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears cases on the violation of human rights stipulated in the European Convention for Human Rights and its protocols.

The court was established in 1959. Its jurisdiction spreads over all the European Councils member-states, which ratified the convention. Russia ratified the convention in 1998.