Legal System of Russia

On 25 May 2001, President Putin proposed the Federal Law „Amending the Federal Law on the Status of Judges in the Russian Federation”[51], which was adopted by the Duma and signed by President Putin on 15 December 2001. The law introduced the disciplinary and administrative liability of judges. The Federal Act on Judicial Bodies, which provides the legal basis for self-governing judicial bodies, was adopted in 2002. [16] The criminal justice system restricted the rights of the accused. There was no jury trial. Prosecutors won 99% of their cases and judgments were usually predetermined. Arrests were often announced after prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. Defenders, if they existed, were not taken seriously. They often had to submit their own document if they wanted copies of requests or opinions. A review is carried out by the qualification commission of a court for admission to its plea. [21] To write the exam, you must have advanced legal training (usually a specialist degree) and either two years of post-graduation legal experience or a post-graduation training program at a law firm.

[25] [21] The exam is written and oral, but the main exam is oral. [21] The written examination takes the form of computer tests and deals with questions relating to the lawyer`s professional conduct and responsibility. After passing the written examination, candidates are allowed to take the oral examination. As part of the oral examination, the candidate must prove his/her knowledge in various areas of law and solve certain imitative legal tasks. The candidate who does not pass the qualifying exam can try to take it again after only 1 year. The Qualification Commission is composed of seven lawyers, two judges, two representatives of the regional legislative assembly and two representatives of the Ministry of Justice. [21] The judiciary evolved very slowly towards an independent role in the post-Soviet era. The federal judicial institutions are the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court. Judges in these courts serve life sentences.

All federal judges are appointed by the Council of the Federation on the recommendation of the President. The Constitutional Court, composed of 19 members, decides on compliance with federal law and the Constitution and settles disputes over jurisdiction between State bodies. The Supreme Court, composed of 23 members, decides on civil, criminal and administrative matters. This is the final stage of the appeal system, which begins with local ordinary courts and includes district and regional courts. There is a Supreme Court for arbitration tribunals to settle commercial disputes, but it has been abolished. [Source: Library of Congress, October 2006**] The Prosecutor General of Russia is the highest prosecutor in Russia, and he and his office are independent of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The Prosecutor General remains the most powerful element of the Russian judicial system. [23] Pro-democracy activists have been imprisoned for „overthrowing the communist system, liquidating the Warsaw Pact, dissolving the Soviet Union, and promoting the United States system.” All guests to parties where even a single joke critical of Stalin was told were arrested and sent to Siberia.

A family was driven from their home and sent to the Arctic because they were called the bourgeoisie because they owned two horses. Arbitral tribunals were found to be particularly effective in dealing with commercial matters. [13] The number of people seeking help from the judicial system also rose from 1 million under Yeltsin to 6 million under Putin. [13] In the mid-2000s, it was still unclear how the reforms would be implemented, particularly for things like promised legal advice, when there was already a shortage of lawyers. The system has been strained and besieged on all sides: Putin`s authoritarians, oligarchic power grabs, gangster corruption and daily bribes. The World Bank has provided loans to Russia to help it improve its legal system. Nevertheless, the old way of doing things has remained firmly entrenched. Some judges who did what was required of them under the new system were dismissed for making politically unpopular decisions.

Many Western observers see the judicial and legal system as a weak link in Russia`s reform efforts, privatisation, the fight against crime and corruption, the protection of civil and human rights and the general rise of the rule of law. Many judges appointed by the regimes of Leonid I Brezhnev (in office 1964-82) and Yuri V. Andropov (in office 1982-84) remained in office in the mid-1990s. These arbitrators were trained in „socialist law” and had become accustomed to basing their judgments on telephone calls from local CPSU leaders rather than on the legal merits of cases. * There were few safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. „Detention and repatriation” was a practice used by police to put beggars, drunkards, natural and mental persons, and illegal immigrants behind bars. People were often detained if they did not present identity cards. The criminal justice system is still based on former Soviet procedural law, which restricts the rights of defendants and does not provide for jury trials. The purpose of the judicial system is to protect the interests of the state, not those of the individual. The legal system has often been described as Kafkaesque. Laws are poorly drafted and, in many cases, ambiguous and contradictory. Political concerns and personal whims have often played a major role in legal decisions.

One human rights activist told The Washington Post: „Rules are words to dance around and laws mean what the authorities say they mean.” Police „regularly exploit loopholes, deliberately misinterpret the law, distort evidence and break the laws they are supposed to enforce.” Under the Constitution, court decisions may be challenged before higher courts, as may decisions of government bodies at all levels. These bodies may be prosecuted for damage caused by an act or omission. Theoretically, all citizens are guaranteed their „day in court”, they have the right to choose their own lawyer or can receive free legal assistance if necessary. Legal aid can be applied for at the earliest moment a person is detained, detained or charged, a change from the previous practice whereby the person could only obtain legal assistance after formal indictment and questioning. However, few citizens are aware of these rights. A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but if there is no jury trial, defendants are generally expected to prove their innocence rather than defend themselves against prosecutors` efforts to prove guilt. In cases where a judge imposes a sentence, the average conviction rate is over 99%, compared to a conviction rate of 84% in jury trials.