Judicial Reform in Russia and its Impact on Procedural Human Rights and Access to Justice

Summary

Introduction

Russia has been working continually to improve the functioning of its judicial system and the administration of justice for more than twenty years. Today we are seeing a new level of judicial reform that is a topical subject much discussed among the members of the Russian legal community: specifically, the judicial reform of commercial litigation – ‘arbitrazh’ –, which underwent crucial changes in 2013- 2014.

It all started in June 2013 when President Vladimir Putin proposed a reorganization of the Higher Commercial Court of the Russian Federation during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Just a few months later, in October the president introduced a bill to the state Duma (the lower house of the Russian Parliament or Federal Assembly) according to which the Higher Commercial Court would cease to exist and its jurisdictional powers pass to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, thereby turning it into a sort of super Supreme Court.

Some lawyers spoke out vigorously against the reform, describing it as confusing, pointless and, generally speaking, dangerous. Others said that arguments opposing the reform went beyond criticism and were merely falsehoods intended to block judicial reform efforts. The debate continues today.

The Court System Issue

The new judicial reform debuted with Bill No. 352924-6 sent by the president to the state Duma for consideration and aimed at ensuring the uniformity of the Russian court system and legal practice. The official title of the bill, which proposed amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation, was ‘On the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation’. However, this title did not reflect the essential part of the bill that in reality entailed the abolishment of the country's Higher Commercial Court.

The Constitution Amendment Act on the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation (the Constitution Amendment Act) was passed by the state Duma on 22 November 2013 and just a few days later by the Federation Council (i.e. the upper house) on 27 November. In February 2014, after the amendments had been approved by the legislative bodies of at least two-thirds of the federal subjects (constituent entities) of the Russian Federation, the law was enacted.