A Report by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger: Russia’s Judicial System under PACE’s Scrutiny

PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has adopted the report by German former minister of justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger entitled “Allegations of Politically-Motivated Abuses of the Criminal Justice System in Council of Europe Member States,” which criticizes judicial practices in Russia. Aleksei Titkov, Carnegie Moscow Center expert, comments on this news.

“As can be inferred from the title, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger’s report provides only a partial analysis of the Russian judicial system: the report addresses only criminal procedures and only notorious ‘political trials,’ such as the Khodorkovsky case and the procedure concerning Anna Politkovskaya’s murder. The focus is on issues that came to light in the early 1990s, such as the so-called ‘telephone law,’ the dependence of judges on the executive branch, the excessive powers of the Prosecutor’s Office, supervision (nadzor) that undermines the adoption of stable court decisions, etc. The report only briefly mentions the distinctive features of judicial practice as a whole, including arbitration and civil cases that do not have a political connotation. Just by looking at the number of claims against Russia filed with the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe might guess that there is something wrong here, but these questions are being postponed, as European politicians have their own priorities.
In her report, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger strongly sympathizes with the judges and unambiguously takes their side. She is comfortable believing that earlier judges abused their power while working for low salaries in poorly equipped offices, whereas now they commit abuses, perhaps to an even greater extent, but they are paid a high salary for working in new marble palaces – of course, this is a positive trend. The author of the report sympathizes with President Medvedev’s rhetoric on Russian citizens’ ‘legal nihilism;’ they are the ones to blame for judges’ arbitrariness, as they have not listened enough to lectures on law. The opinions of ordinary citizens on these measures and assessments are not particularly important; after all, their views have nothing to do with the Russian-European dialog.
Of course, Russia will pay attention to the criticisms and recommendations; it will take certain comments into consideration and correct them. After these reports, Russia’s judicial system will gradually approach the formal standards of the Council of Europe, but it will still be a disaster for its citizens. The judicial system can be cured only by relying on its own strength, when this topic gains some weight on the political agenda. After a deadly shooting spree by major Yevsyukov in a supermarket in the south of Moscow last April, many were forced to think, at least a little, about what is going on inside the police and how far this is from normal. The judicial system has yet to be struck by a similar tragedy, some legal development that would force society to start discussing the state of affairs and suggesting what to do.”