Russia: Importance of an Independent Judiciary

In Russia, judges receive low salaries and few resources and are therefore susceptible to corruption. Though the administration of President Putin has recognized this problem and pledged to raise resources allotted to the judiciary, no increases have been made, and corruption remains a problem. Judges are subject to pressure from powerful individuals with interests in the outcome of economically or politically significant cases, like that of the prominent businessman, Mikhail Khodorkhovsky. The government uses the judiciary selectively as a tool to secure its own political objectives, thereby undermining the integrity of the system as a whole.

Prosecutors abuse the judicial system by bringing criminal cases under falsified charges in order to target outspoken critics of the government. In recent cases, prosecutors have brought such investigations under national security legislation in collaboration with the Federal Security Service (FSB). Though the Criminal Procedure Code was amended to create greater judicial influence on the prosecutorial process, in practice, this does not serve as an effective check on arbitrary arrests, detentions, investigations, or prosecutions.

In Russian criminal courts, where the conviction rate in cases heard by judges is extremely high, judges fear they will be dismissed or forced to resign if they do not convict high numbers of defendants and issue sentences that comply with prosecutors’ requests. For example, Judge Alexander Melikov was forced to resign due to pressure he received from a high ranking judge after issuing a lenient but legal sentence in a case involving a non-citizen.

In addition, a new measure to increase President Putin’s control over nominations and selection of high level judges was recently passed, further extending the executive’s influence over the courts The measure’s sponsor, Sergei Mironov, said the initiative was meant to improve Russia’s counterterrorism efforts.