Barrister and academic, with extensive research, publishing and advisory experience in former Soviet Union and other countries, fluent in Russian
Dr. Christian is a psychoanalytical anthropologist of violent ethnic & cultural conflict in Eurasia, South Asia, Middle East, Central and South America, West Africa, North Africa and the Horn of Africa with experience working in military, diplomatic, and humanitarian interventions in intra-state violent conflicts.
Expert on Russia and Post-Soviet Countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Responds to inquiries within 1 hour and delivers reports within 1 week. Adheres to the minimum rate that meets Legal Aid requirements. Partnered with 15 law firms in the US and UK to provide expert reports on asylum and human rights cases. Authored over 100 reports that contributed to successful asylum claims. Specialised in human rights violations, political persecution, and market conditions in these regions. A seasoned publicist, PR expert, TV presenter, and journalist with a focus on Russia and Post-Soviet states. My background includes producing and hosting television shows, conducting in-depth interviews with political figures, and offering expert consultation on human rights issues. Winner of the Expert Witness Awards in the category of Best Immigration, Asylum & Refugee Expert Witness 2024, hosted by Acquisition International.Associate Professor at King’s College London with over two decades of internationally recognised expertise on crime, corruption, policing, prisons and criminal justice reform across the former Soviet Union. Known for combining rigorous academic research with high-level policy advisory roles for international organisations as well as UK and US government departments.
I am available to produce general country expert evidence reports on political, social, and economic conditions, corruption and crime environments, state protection capacity, and risks faced by specific social groups in my countries of expertise. I also provide expert reports and testimony for cases involving risks from political activism, exposure of corruption or organised crime, trafficking and exploitation, state collusion with criminal groups, police corruption, and inhumane detention conditions in former Soviet Union countries.
I have extensively travelled and conducted field research across former Soviet Union countries, gaining a deep understanding of how informal networks, weak rule of law, and criminal-state nexus structures create specific vulnerabilities for asylum claimants. My research has been published in leading academic journals and briefed to senior policymakers and officials… Read more
Dr. Hanna Vasilevich is a researcher and academic currently based at the International Centre for Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity Studies in Prague, where she serves as Board Chair. Dr. Vasilevich has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast, UK, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Law & Anthropology Department of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany. Before she worked at the European Centre for Minority Studies (Germany) and taught in a number of Universities in Czechia and Germany.