Judiciary of Russia
The Judiciary of Russia interprets and applies the law of Russia. It is defined under the Constitution and law with a hierarchical structure with the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court at the apex. The district courts are the primary criminal trial courts, and the regional courts are the primary appellate courts. The judiciary is governed by the All-Russian Congress of Judges and its Council of Judges, and its management is aided by the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court, the Higher Qualification Board of Judges, and the Ministry of Justice, and the various courts' presidents. And although there are many officers of the court, including jurors, the Prosecutor General remains the most powerful component of the Russian judicial system.
The judiciary faces many problems and a widespread lack of confidence. There have been serious violations of the accepted separation of powers doctrine, systematic attempts to undermine jury trials, problems with access to justice, problems with court infrastructure, financial support, and corruption.
Courts
Russia has a trifurcated court system, with constitutional, ordinary, and other courts. The Constitutional Court of Russia is considered a separate, independent court. The district courts are the primary criminal trial courts, and the regional courts are the primary appellate courts.Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court of Russia is responsible for cases concerning conformity with the Constitution, judicial disputes between 2 or more federal bodies, between a federal body and a member of the Federation, and between members of the Federation. As such, it practices "constitutional review" and decides whether federal laws, presidential decrees and directives, and regional constitutions, charters, and laws comply with the federal constitution, as well as treaties between the national government and a regional governments and between regional governments.It is composed of 11 judges, and sits in plenary sessions. The President of the Court presides over the sessions. Constitutionality of laws, disputes concerning competence of governmental agencies, impeachment of the President of Russia, and Constitutional Court's proposals of legislation must be dealt with by the plenary session. The Constitutional Court may also submit to the plenary session any other issue at its discretion.
In general, the court hears cases referred by the President, the Federation Council, the State Duma, one-fifth of the members of either chamber of the Federal Assembly, the Government, the Supreme Court, or other bodies of legislative or executive authority. It also hears complains by citizens of allegations of constitutional rights violations.
Former constitutional (charter) courts of federal subjects
Constitutional courts of republics of Russia and charter courts of other Russia's federal subjects used to hear cases relating to conformity with regional constitutions or charters of laws adopted by regional legislatures and governors' decrees, and in this category of cases constitutional and charter courts were courts of single instance. Courts of this type were disestablished by the 2020 Constitutional amendments.As for 2020, only twelve republics had their own constitutional courts, while two oblasts and one federal city had charter courts. Two republics and one oblast had abolished their constitutional/charter courts before 2020. In the republics of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, and Sakha, the disestablished constitutional courts were transformed into constitutional councils without any judicial powers.
Constitutional and charter courts were completely independent and were not subordinate courts to the Constitutional Court of Russia. They were independent and had their own jurisdiction.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Russia is the highest court, and supervises inferior courts of general jurisdiction. It occasionally sits as a court of first instance in cases where important interests of state are at issue; in this case it normally consists of a judge and a jury, but occasionally consists of three judges.There are 115 members of the Supreme Court. At plenary sessions the Supreme Court studies the judicial decisions of lower courts on various topics and adopts resolutions, which establish recommendations on the interpretation of particular provisions of law for lower courts for uniform application.
The Presidium of the Supreme Court represents Russia's final court of appeal. The Presidium consists of thirteen judges: the Chief Justice, its first deputy, its six deputies and five other Supreme Court judges. Only the Prosecutor General has the right to appeal to the Presidium, and as a result, very few criminal cases reviewed by the three-judge panels of the Supreme Court make it to the Presidium. Only 0.4% of criminal cases in 1998 ended with an acquittal in the Presidium.
The court is divided into several chambers or collegia, and each chamber normally sits with three judges:
- civil ;
- criminal ;
- administrative ;
- for commercial disputes ;
- military ; and
- appeals, which can review decisions of the other chambers.
In fact, after the merger of old Supreme Court and former High Court of Arbitration the new Supreme Court of Russia leads 2 subsystems of Russian judicial system: ordinary courts and arbitration courts.
Ordinary courts
s hear all criminal cases. Also ordinary courts hear administrative cases, civil cases, cases of administrative offenses with the exception of cases under the jurisdiction of arbitration courts. Ordinary courts are divided into 2 types: military and non-military.Cassation courts
Cassation courts became operational on October 1, 2019. They carry out the cassation review of cases which were heard by district courts or garrison military courts as the courts of first instance.Appellate courts
Appellate courts became operational on October 1, 2019. They carry out the appeal review of cases which were heard by regional courts or military courts of military districts/fleets as the courts of first instance.Regional courts and military courts of military districts/fleets
are the courts at the federal subject level, though are not all named as such. This includes the supreme courts of the republics of Russia, courts of the krais, courts of the oblasts, city courts of the federal cities of Russia, courts of the autonomous oblasts, and courts of the autonomous okrugs.The courts sit as both courts of first instance and appellate courts. As courts of first instance, they hear more complex civil cases, serious criminal cases and administrative cases with participation of regional authorities. A judge and a jury, or alternatively 3 judges, hear these cases. As appellate courts, they hear decisions of district courts that have not yet entered into force, and consist of 3 judges.
The jurisdiction of military courts of military districts/fleets is similar to jurisdiction of regional courts, but military courts of military districts/fleets hear and review the cases relating to the military personnel only.
District courts and garrison military courts
, which were called People's Courts until 1996, are primarily courts of first instance but sometimes hear appeals from magistrates. They are formed in areas, urban areas, and towns. Decisions of the court are appealed to the regional court.As courts of first instance, they handle criminal cases where imprisonment is for more than 3 years, and consist of 1 judge and a jury where required. As courts of appeal from decisions of the magistrates consisting of 1 justice of the peace, they consist of 1 judge and retry the case.
The jurisdiction of garrison military courts is similar to jurisdiction of district courts, but the garrison military courts hear the cases relating to the military personnel only. Furthermore, unlike district courts, the garrison military courts do not carry out appeal procedure.
Magistrates
handle criminal cases where imprisonment is for less than three years such as petty hooliganism, public drunkenness, and serious traffic violations of a non-criminal nature, minor civil cases such as simple divorces, some property cases, disputes over land, and some labor cases, as well as some cases of administrative offenses and administrative cases. The magistrates were expected to hear two-thirds of all civil cases and close to 100,000 criminal cases.Arbitration courts
hear cases dealing with a wide matter of contractual issues, such as rights of ownership, contract changes, performance of obligations, loans, bank accounts, and insolvency of juridical persons and natural persons. They operate independently of the other courts. The system of arbitration courts is supervised 30-Judge Judicial Chamber for Commercial Disputes that is part of an expanded Russian Supreme Court effective from August 8, 2014.Arbitration circuit courts and the Court of intellectual rights
Arbitration circuit courts carry out the first cassation review of cases which were heard by arbitration courts of the federal subjects as the courts of first instance.The Court of intellectual rights became operational on July 3, 2013. The Court of intellectual rights carries out the cassation review of cases relating to the copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets which were heard by arbitration courts of the federal subjects as the courts of first instance. Furthermore, the Court of intellectual rights hears some civil and administrative cases relating to the intellectual property issues as the court of first instance; such cases are heard by a panel of 3 judges of the Court of intellectual rights; appellate procedure is not provided for such cases; the first cassation review of such cases is carried out by the presidency of the Court of intellectual rights and the second - by the Judicial Chamber for Commercial Disputes of Supreme Court of Russia.