Team

Hugues de Suremain is co-founder of the EPLN. He was formerly responsible officer of the investigation division of the International Prison Observatory, before being its legal and litigation coordinator (2004-2010). Between 2011 and 2016, he was a lawyer at the Paris Bar, practicing in a law firm specialised before the judicial and administrative supreme courts of France. He has collaborated as a researcher with the University of Florence between 2014 and 2016. He is currently member of the Expert council on NGO law of the Council of Europe.

Julia Krikorian studied sociology and philosophy in Paris. She joined the EPLN in 2016 and played a leading role in developing the network. She coordinated with the University of Strasbourg a programme of research on access to legal aid in detention in the EU (2017-2019) and with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts the “Coalition for fighting violence in prison” with prisoners’ rights defenders from Germany, France, Poland, Ukraine and Russia (2019-2021). Formerly, she coordinated peace mediation projects in Ukraine, South Caucasus and Kosovo for the NGO CSSP e.V. and was head of mission for the NGO Medecins du Monde in Russia.

Béranger Dominici joined the EPLN in 2022, after having been involved as a volunteer in the network’s activities since 2015. He is responsible for coordinating the organisation’s legal and advocacy resources for prisoners’ rights defenders. He is based in Poland.

Dmitry Gurin joined the EPLN as a legal advisor in 2022. In 2021-2022 Dmitry worked as an independent expert with the Council of Europe, being involved in training programmes for legal professionals, and as a senior lawyer at Memorial Human Rights Centre. He is a former lawyer of the ECtHR Registry (2016-2020), executive legal assistant to the Russian Government Agent to the ECtHR (2011-2015) and an associate professor at the criminal law department of the Russian State University Justice (2012-2015). Dmitry is a member of the Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre. In 2023 he also delivered a course on criminal politics at Free University.

Law student at the University of Warsaw, alongside a bachelor's degree in social prevention and resocialisation (legal and criminological specialisation). Former intern at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (2025–2026). Member of the University of Warsaw's Article 42 Executive Penal Code Legal Clinic (Klinika art. 42 k.k.w.), providing legal assistance to persons deprived of liberty (in particular prisoners serving long-term sentences). Board member of the Paulina Kuczalska-Reinschmit Student Academic Circle, devoted to human rights and equity. Research interests include critical criminology, the theory of criminalisation, penitentiary law and human rights in conditions of isolation.