MOSCOW, June 26 – RAPSI. One of three Russian candidates for the European Court of Human Rights – Supreme Commercial Court Judge Lyudmila Novosyolova – has withdrawn her nomination, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Pursuant to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) rules, each member country can propose three candidates. Only one will be elected.

Anatoly Kovler’s tenure will expire in November. Thus, competition for the office began in 2011. Fifteen judges hoped to receive the position.

The Justice Ministry selected six candidates, the president afterwards nominated three of them for the post.

The nominee list included the ad hoc judge in the YUKOS v. Russia case, St. Petersburg State University Professor Andrey Bushev and Supreme Commercial Court judges Dmitry Dedov and Lyudmila Novosyolova.

According to Andrey Fyodorov, chief of the Russian ECHR envoy's office, Novosyolova disqualified herself several days ago “for personal reasons.” The Ministry of Justice will soon propose Supreme Court Judge Olga Vedernikova in her place.

PACE deputy speaker Leonid Sloutsky believes the new Russian judge will be elected during the fall session.