Thread: Russian legal system: the Russian perspective

^^Good to hear, Alex!

Originally Posted by RedFox

IMO, the court system is corrupt in general, however it works reliable enough for ordinary cases. But if a case is about big money, influential officials or the government, you have no chance.

Sounds a bit like the United States, to me. All you need to get acquitted, is an expensive lawyer who can manipulate the people in the jury. On the other hand, for some ghetto guy with a publically assigned lawyer, the guilt is assumed - and then they are sent to privately!!! owned prisons.

One thing about the Russian criminal system that makes sense to me, is to make the prisoners do proper work - things that really need doing.
Of course, the conditions should be reasonable.

Re "five star prisons" in Russia. I don't know anything about it other than what I saw on TV in connection with Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He seemed to be set up with a little office in prison and had a revolving door for CNN and others who wanted to interview him in prison. After hearing a lot about terrible prison conditions in Russia, that was a bit surprising. If there is such a thing as a "five star prison" in Russia, then that was where he was... The fact that he gave interviews throughout his time in prison also refutes the idea that he was imprisoned on political grounds to shut him up.

Btw, does Russia have jury trials?

Originally Posted by Hanna

Btw, does Russia have jury trials?

Yes. They were launched in 1993. They applicable if crime is heavy and accused makes request for it.

Originally Posted by Alex80

Yes. They were launched in 1993. They applicable if crime is heavy and accused makes request for it.

I think it's a good idea in Russia to offer jury trials as an option, since a lot of people are very suspicious of the state. To involve regular people may add an extra checkpoint.
It doesn't solve all the problems, of course, but at least it offers an extra layer of external visibility and protection for the accused.

I think a lot of people in the US too, have a suspicious view of the state, but for different reasons than the Russians. So it makes sense that the US also uses this system. In Europe, I know only of the UK using it, and I do not know why or what the background is. It's only used in criminal cases.

In Northern Europe, most people trust the state more than they trust their fellow citizens ("state is always good and always knows best...")
So jury trials are not used. The general opinion is that only the state can truly be trusted to make an accurate judgement regarding somebody's guilt, whereas regular people would get confused or emotional - so can't be fully trusted to be objective.

Lately some people started feeling that some judgements are political, for example in connection with some filesharing cases (where many thought the government had decided beforehand, what the verdict should be), and cases to do with criminality by immigrants.

Was there a public debate about jury trials at the time, in Russia, or how come it was suddenly introduced in 1993?