The outgoing year 2021 was rich in changes in the judicial and legal sphere of Russia. The courts put an end to the high-profile trials of actor Mikhail Efremov and director Kirill Serebrennikov, the chairman of the Moscow City Court, who had been serving for 20 years, Olga Egorova, left her post, and Yuri Chaika was replaced as Prosecutor General of Russia by Igor Krasnov. In the professional community, there are very different opinions regarding what consequences these events will have and how they will affect the process of humanization of Russian criminal legislation. Henry Reznik, Honored Lawyer of Russia, Vice-President of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of Russia, member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), gave his assessment of the key events of the year in the field of law in an exclusive interview with Lenta.ru.
“A shining example in favor of the jury”
Lenta.ru: Which trial, in your opinion, became the main one in 2021?
Henry Resnick:
All matters were overshadowed by the trial of Mikhail Efremov. I don’t remember that a rather ordinary matter in professional terms, solely due to noise accompaniment in all types of mass media, acquired such a colossal resonance. A clear example of the power of the fourth estate.
Henry Resnick
What lessons has this trial taught to the judicial and legal communities?
For the judge, I think, none - they did not see such complexity and social significance of the case. The court examined the case, assessed the evidence and passed a verdict.
But the Federal Chamber of Lawyers was forced to first make a statement and then initiate disciplinary proceedings against Efremov’s defender Elman Pashayev and the victim’s representative Alexander Dobrovinsky. As a result, both were disbarred.
The councils of different chambers - North Ossetian and Moscow - came to identical conclusions that the public statements of Pashayev and Dobrovinsky are clearly incompatible with the essence of the legal profession and undermine confidence in the institution of the legal profession.
Actor Mikhail Efremov
Photo: Ivan Vodopyanov / Kommersant
To dispel misconceptions about the basis for such decisions, I note that these statements were made by [lawyers - approx. "Tapes.ru"
] in an interview with the media during the consideration of Efremov’s case.
However, they have no direct relation either to the participation of lawyers in the trial or to the shocking publicity during the trial, including on numerous television shows.
The lawyer himself determines the defense tactics: conduct it quietly or resort to theatrical effects. He can come to court on a scooter, on a mule, on a helicopter...
True, many will consider such behavior inappropriate for a lawyer. In addition, self-promotion is traditionally morally condemned in the legal profession. But this is all beyond the scope of disciplinary prosecution.
Only the client can make complaints about the tactics and quality of the defense to the lawyer. However, our code of professional ethics governs not only the relationship “lawyer-client”, “lawyer-court”, but also “lawyer-community”. A lawyer should not undermine confidence in the profession and diminish the authority of the legal profession.
What other trials would you note in the past year, both in terms of importance and level of public resonance?
Of course, the trial of Kirill Serebrennikov: it showed the true value of the principles of adversarialism and the presumption of innocence in our professional court.
From the very beginning, the investigation chose an original indictment, declaring unproduced performances that had been successfully performed in the theater for a long time and received flattering reviews in the press.
Kirill Serebrennikov (center)
Photo: Irina Bujor / Kommersant
The burden of proof was transferred to the defense, and the examination carried out in court at her request completely refuted the one carried out during the preliminary investigation. But the court, instead of issuing an acquittal, ordered a third examination - and as a result, [Serebrennikov’s] acquittal was replaced by a suspended sentence.
At the same time, the specifics of the theater business are ignored, and evidence of the theft of money is replaced by cashing it in, without which not a single performance can be staged
None of the convicts were found to have any valuables - expensive real estate, large sums of money or assets. Instead of resolving the dispute between the parties to the trial, the court performed the function of prosecution. The clearest example in favor of expanding the jurisdiction of jury courts.
The Moscow Regional Court upheld the conviction of a lawyer convicted of slandering a judge
On July 22, the Moscow Regional Court upheld the conviction against the lawyer of the Moscow Region Administrative Office Boris Olkhov, who was previously convicted of defamation of a judge.
Facts of the case
Let us recall that AG previously wrote that in March 2021, Boris Olkhov defended the interests of the victim in court in a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. During the trial of the case in the Stupino City Court of the Moscow Region, he filed two applications to challenge Judge S. and announced their contents to other participants in the criminal process.
The lawyer’s first statement contained the following fragments: “judge S. refuses to administer justice in accordance with the requirements of the law; The framework of the Code of Criminal Procedure seems to be too small for him,” “S. after the victim refused the special procedure for considering the case, he began to “openly” threaten him,” “the presiding officer beautifully wanted to compensate the victim for the damage during the trial. Having suggested that the defendant put 50 thousand rubles at the witness stand and the victim take them,” “personally, after these actions of S. not provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure, I got the impression that the presiding officer had a share,” “the recent reversal of S.’s acquittal in the case of receiving bribes, which are now widely discussed in legal circles, significantly add to my doubts about the impartiality of the presiding officer.” The second document contained, in particular, the following quotes: “the dispute between two persons turned the process into a bazaar,” “the resourceful S. cleverly stopped me with Article 252 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.”
The petitions were rejected by the judge, who considered that Boris Olkhov used offensive language in them, after which he reprimanded him. The judge also sent a private resolution to the Chamber of Lawyers of the Moscow Region, in which he asked to bring the defense attorney to disciplinary liability. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the lawyer, as a result of which Boris Olkhov was given a reprimand. The disciplinary bodies of the AP MO noted: despite the fact that the content of the lawyer’s statements does not contain violations of the law or the requirements of professional ethics, the lack of restraint in the form of presentation cannot be considered acceptable. Based on the results of the disciplinary review, the lawyer was given a reprimand.
In October 2021, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Moscow Region opened a criminal case against a lawyer for contempt of court, expressed in the form of insulting a judge, under Part 2 of Art. 297 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Subsequently, the investigation reclassified the lawyer’s actions, charging him under Part 1 of Art. 298.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – slander against a judge.
According to the investigation, with controversial statements, the lawyer disseminated deliberately false, untrue information affecting the reputation, professional and moral qualities of the judge of the Stupinsky City Court of the Moscow Region S., discrediting his honor and dignity as a person and a person administering justice, while simultaneously disrupting the normal activities of the court and diminishing the authority of the judiciary of the Russian Federation. To substantiate its position, the state prosecution relied on three examinations carried out in the case. A search was carried out in the apartment of the accused, and a preventive measure was chosen against him in the form of a recognizance not to leave.
At the first round of consideration, the appeal overturned the conviction
During the consideration of the criminal case in the Kashira City Court of the Moscow Region, the defendant did not admit his guilt.
“Such an attitude towards the law is unacceptable for the capital’s court”
In 2021, for the first time in 20 years, the chairman of the Moscow City Court was replaced: a military judge replaced Olga Egorova. How do you evaluate Egorova’s work in this post?
Egorova inherited the practice of the Moscow City Court, which developed over many years, so it is absolutely unfounded to consider her as the initiator of integrating the judicial system into the vertical of power. The court, both in the country and in Moscow, has always been dependent on the executive branch.
The Moscow court earned the label “Mosgorshtamp” back in the 70s, when Egorova had just graduated from school
When she was appointed chairman of the Moscow City Court in December 2000, she was, of course, given the task of renewing the vertical, which had become slightly unraveled in the turbulent 90s.
I remember those times well: red tape flourished in the district courts, trivial civil and criminal cases were not considered for months, some even for years. We must pay tribute to Olga Alexandrovna, she brought order to the courts.
Moscow City Court building
Photo: Petr Kassin / Kommersant
At the same time, all criminal cases either with political overtones or initiated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia, as well as civil cases affecting the interests of the state, were strictly controlled by the leadership of the Moscow City Court and personally by its chairman.
The number of such cases in the total mass is small, but they are very toxic. Corroding the psyche of judges, as well as feeding callousness and simplisticism, such cases strengthen the accusatory bias in ordinary ordinary criminal cases, which is traditionally present.
It seems to me that verticalization played a cruel joke on Egorova. I read the private rulings issued to the chairman of the Moscow City Court this year by the Second Cassation Court, and I am amazed
It turns out that the appellate instance of the Moscow City Court “overpowered” the verdicts of district courts with such gross violations of the law as: - predetermination of the issue of guilt and the need to impose punishment before the final decision in the case;
- sentencing by an illegal court; — violation of the procedural procedure for extending the arrest of several accused; — the basis of the verdict on the unsigned protocol of the court hearing; — discrepancy between the written text of the court decision and the audio recording of the trial.
For the capital's city court, such a disdainful attitude towards the law is unacceptable - they blabbed.
Henry Resnick
Photo: Sergey Bobylev / TASS
How did Egorova’s activities as head of the Moscow City Court affect judicial practice in Russia as a whole?
There is no mutual influence of judicial practice of different regions on each other: all regional courts are autonomous. Everyone has their own problems, their own prosecutor’s offices, investigative bodies, special services - their own verticals. But they are confusingly similar, because [in the regions] there are the same indicators of arrests, convictions, their reversals and amendments, satisfaction of complaints and petitions. Perhaps there are fewer high-profile cases than in Moscow, but if they happen, they are resolved essentially identically.
Is your personal attitude towards Olga Egorova different from your professional one?
I, as the president of the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers, was doomed to build normal business relations with the chairman of the Moscow City Court, otherwise I would have been worthless. And such a relationship developed.
We had to solve various problems: for example, mandatory protection [of defendants], allocating premises in courts for lawyers, building respectful relations between defense lawyers and judges, responding to disruptions of court hearings, and so on.
Outside of work contacts, we communicated infrequently. Olga Aleksandrovna is an attractive woman and can be very charming in an informal setting.
There is some symbolism in Egorova’s arrival as a military judge. Do you agree with this? What should we expect from the arrival of a new person, especially a military man, to the main court of Moscow?
I would not rush to predict that with the appointment of Mikhail Ptitsyn, the Moscow City Court will finally take shape as an appendage of the security forces. Military justice has always been distinguished by a high level of professionalism and more humane judicial practice. This is explained by the fact that they judge their own: some officers - other officers and soldiers. That’s why there have always been more acquittals and sentences without imprisonment. But even against this background, the practice of military courts headed by Ptitsyn stood out for its reduced repressiveness.
Chairman of the Moscow City Court Mikhail Ptitsyn
Photo: Southern District Military Court / RIA Novosti
Thus, the number of those acquitted by garrison courts subordinate to the Southern District Military Court is now approximately half of all those acquitted by all military courts in Russia. The same trend was observed in the Balashikha Garrison Court, when it was headed by the new chairman of the Moscow City Court.
Let's hope that this commitment to judicial impartiality will not leave Mikhail Yuryevich when he moves to the capital
Still, there is no reason to suspect him of hostility towards the civilian public. Of course, if high government orders or political motivation remain as before, then “abandon hope, all who enter here.” But I think Ptitsyn is quite capable of starting to cure judges of the fear of acquittals in relation to the entire array of criminal cases.
