Chapter 48.1. Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation

Article 412.1. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation Review of court decisions by way of supervision

Court decisions that have entered into legal force, specified in part two of this article, may be reviewed in the manner of supervision by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation based on complaints and submissions of persons specified in parts one and two of Article 401.2 of this Code.
The court of supervisory authority verifies, based on a supervisory complaint or presentation, the legality of the sentence, ruling or ruling of the court.
The following can be appealed to the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation that have entered into legal force: 1) judicial decisions of the supreme courts of republics, regional or regional courts, courts of federal cities, courts of an autonomous region, courts of autonomous districts made by these courts when considering a criminal case in the first instance, if these decisions were the subject of appeal consideration in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; 2) court decisions of district (naval) military courts made by these courts when considering a criminal case in the first instance, if these decisions were the subject of appeal consideration in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; 3) rulings of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and rulings of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, issued by them on appeal; 4) rulings of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and rulings of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, issued by them in cassation proceedings; 5) decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Procedure for considering a complaint in court

The Presidium of the RF Supreme Court accepts the case for consideration based on the ruling of the judge who has previously studied the submitted materials, and sends notifications to interested parties about the place and time of the hearing.

The proceedings are carried out with the obligatory participation of the prosecutor.

The judge-reporter states:

circumstances of the criminal case;
the content of judicial acts adopted by previous authorities;
the arguments that served as the basis for filing the complaint.

The parties to the case (interested persons) have the right to give explanations, and the person who filed the supervisory complaint speaks first.

The result of the consideration of the case is determined by the Presidium by voting. The proposal most favorable to the convicted person is put to a vote first.

If there is an equal number of votes cast for the revision of the criminal case and against its revision, the supervisory complaint is considered rejected.

The grounds for canceling or changing a sentence (decision, ruling) are:

significant violations of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation that influenced the outcome of the case;
identification of new information indicating non-compliance with the conditions (failure to fulfill obligations) provided for by the pre-trial cooperation agreement.

Following the meeting, a resolution is issued:

to cancel the sentence, all subsequent decisions and terminate the criminal case;
on transferring the case to the court of first instance for a new trial;
to cancel the decision of the appellate (cassation) instance and to transfer the case to a new appeal (cassation);
on the cancellation of the verdict, all subsequent decisions and the return of the case to remove obstacles to its consideration by the court (for example: if the indictment was drawn up in violation of the requirements of criminal proceedings);
on amendments to the court verdict (decision, ruling);
on refusal to satisfy the supervisory complaint.

The resolution comes into force immediately after its announcement and is no longer subject to further appeal, except in cases of reconsideration of the case due to newly discovered circumstances.

Article 412.2. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Procedure and deadline for filing supervisory complaints and presentations

A supervisory complaint or presentation is filed directly with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Court decisions specified in part three of Article 412.1 of this Code may be appealed through the supervisory procedure within one year from the date of their entry into legal force. If the deadline for appeal is missed for a good reason, persons who have the right to file a complaint or presentation may petition the court that passed the sentence or made another decision being appealed to restore the missed deadline in the manner prescribed by Article 389.5 of this Code.

Deadline for filing a complaint

Currently, criminal proceedings do not regulate the time limit for filing a supervisory complaint. Thus, you can contact the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces:

while serving a sentence;
after release from prison;
after a criminal record has been expunged.

At the same time, if we are talking about the revision of a judicial act on grounds that entail a worsening of the situation of the convicted person (acquitted or a citizen against whom the criminal case was terminated), then the period for appealing to the supervisory authority is limited to 1 year from the date of entry into legal force of the appealed decision (Article 401.6 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).

Article 412.3. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Contents of supervisory complaints, submissions

A supervisory complaint or presentation must contain: 1) the name of the court to which they are filed; 2) information about the person who filed the complaint, presentation, indicating his place of residence or location, procedural status; 3) an indication of the courts that considered the criminal case in the first, appellate or cassation instances, and the content of the decisions they made; 4) an indication of the court decisions that are being appealed; 5) an indication of the grounds provided for by law for reviewing a court decision in the order of supervision with the presentation of arguments indicating the existence of such grounds; 6) request of the person who filed the complaint, presentation.
The supervisory complaint of a person who did not take part in the case must indicate what rights, freedoms or legitimate interests of this person were violated by the court decision that entered into legal force.
The supervisory complaint must be signed by the person filing the complaint. The supervisory submission must be signed by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation or his deputy.
Attached to the supervisory complaint or presentation are copies of court decisions made in the case, certified by the courts that considered the criminal case in the first, appellate or cassation instances.

Who can file a complaint

In accordance with Art. 401.2 and 412.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the following may file a supervisory complaint:

parties to the case: convicted, acquitted, their defenders and authorized (legal) representatives, private prosecutor, victims, civil plaintiffs and defendants in part of the civil claim, the decision on which is contained in the verdict;
other persons whose rights, freedoms and legitimate interests were violated by court decisions;
General (military, regional) prosecutor and his deputies.

Article 412.4. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Return of supervisory complaints or submissions without consideration on the merits

A supervisory complaint or presentation is returned without consideration on the merits if: 1) a supervisory complaint or presentation does not meet the requirements provided for in Article 412.3 of this Code; 2) a supervisory complaint or presentation was filed by a person who does not have the right to appeal to a supervisory court; 3) the deadline for appealing a court decision in the supervisory order has been missed; 4) a request has been received to withdraw the supervisory complaint or presentation; 5) a supervisory complaint or presentation was filed in violation of the rules established by part three of Article 412.1 of this Code.
A supervisory complaint or presentation must be returned within 10 days from the date of its receipt by the supervisory court.

What is the difference between cassation in the Supreme Court?

The differences between the cassation appeal to the Supreme Court and the previous complaint are due to the specifics of the judicial proceedings in the Supreme Court. The main task of the highest judicial body is to correct law enforcement practice and form a unified position, namely to eliminate gaps in legal understanding.

Since after cassation the Supreme Court is the final authority for appealing judicial acts, the appeal procedure is possible only after a preliminary verification of your cassation appeal. The check is carried out by the filter judge for compliance with the conditions imposed by the Code of Civil Procedure, not only for the format and content of the application, but also for the position of the applicant. Based on the results of which you receive a notification about the acceptance of the cassation or its rejection.

Unlike the first cassation, your appeal to the Supreme Court demanding a review of the case should be radically different in motivation, justification, emphasis and structure of presentation of the cassation appeal. In other words, it is not enough to simply duplicate the text of the first cassation appeal for the Supreme Court.

We remind you. At this stage, the panel will only check the errors of the lower courts, and therefore you do not need to set out the circumstances of the case.

You cannot justify your position by evaluating the evidence. The main task at this stage is for the board to decide to request all case materials from the archive, since after they are requested, the likelihood of inviting you to cassation is highest.

Article 412.5. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Consideration of supervisory complaints, submissions

Supervisory complaints or submissions filed in accordance with the rules established by Articles 412.1 - 412.3 of this Code are examined by a judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. A judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation examines the supervisory complaint, presentation based on the materials attached to the complaint, presentation, or on the materials of the requested criminal case.
Based on the results of studying the supervisory complaint or presentation, the judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation makes a decision: 1) on the refusal to transfer the supervisory complaint or presentation for consideration at a court hearing of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, if there are no grounds for reviewing court decisions in the manner of supervision. At the same time, the supervisory complaint, presentation, as well as copies of the appealed court decisions remain in the supervisory court; 2) on the transfer of supervisory complaints, presentations with a criminal case for consideration at a court hearing of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
The Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation or his deputy has the right to disagree with the decision of a judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the refusal to transfer a supervisory complaint or presentation for consideration at a court hearing of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and make a decision to cancel the said decision and to transfer a supervisory complaint or presentation with a criminal case for consideration in a court hearing of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Attached documents

The supervisory appeal must be accompanied by copies of decisions previously taken in previous instances, certified by the relevant judicial authorities.

A scanned image of each document sent via the Internet is certified with a simple or enhanced qualified electronic signature in accordance with the Procedure approved by Order of the Chairman of the RF Armed Forces dated November 29, 2016 No. 46-P.

In the absence of the necessary attachments, the supervisory complaint is subject to return without consideration on the merits within 10 days from the date of its submission (clause 2 of Article 412.4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).

Article 412.12. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Limits of the rights of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

When considering a criminal case by way of supervision, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation verifies the correct application of the norms of criminal and criminal procedural laws by the lower courts that considered the case, within the limits of the arguments of the supervisory complaint or presentation. In the interests of legality, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has the right to go beyond the arguments of the supervisory complaint, presentation and consider the criminal case in full, including in relation to persons who have not appealed court decisions in the supervisory order.
The instructions of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are mandatory for the court re-hearing a criminal case.
The Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in the event of a reversal of a court decision, has no right to establish or consider as proven circumstances that were not established or were rejected by the court of first instance or appeal, prejudge questions about the reliability or unreliability of this or that evidence, the superiority of some evidence over others, and determine what court decision should be made in a new trial of the case.

Deadlines for filing with the Supreme Court after cassation

The deadline for filing a complaint with the Supreme Court starts immediately after the first cassation, that is, from the day the act is announced by the cassation court of your region. The deadlines are fixed in the Civil Procedure Code and amount to 3 months, beyond which an appeal is impossible, without compelling reasons for missing the period for filing a cassation with the Supreme Court.

However, in our experience, the Chairman of the Supreme Court can accept your complaint for consideration if the reason why the deadline was missed was valid (including illness, long business trip, caring for relatives). To do this, you will only need to submit the appropriate petition along with the main package of materials submitted to the Supreme Court.

We advise, after the cassation, not to delay the appeal, since this time is better spent preparing a legally competent complaint to the Supreme Court, and thereby increase the chance of winning the trial.

Supervisory complaint in a civil case: what arguments to present

So, you have familiarized yourself with a sample supervisory complaint in a civil case and received approximate ideas about its execution. Now the main question arises: what arguments should be presented in the supervisory complaint? How to convince an official of a significant violation of the law by the court?

First of all, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the reasons for the decision. It should be indicated why the specific instructions in the decision of the first instance court with references to the rules of law and the listing of evidence are incorrect. For this purpose, it would not hurt to have a preliminary acquaintance with the case in order to have information about how the course of the trial was reflected in the case. Then, as a general rule, in a supervisory appeal in a civil case it is necessary to analyze the ruling of a higher court: to evaluate its main instructions. You should not make your complaint style emotional, including asking rhetorical questions or using question marks and exclamation marks. You should present your arguments strictly to the point.

If your business is truly important to you, consider the following.

Each civil case is unique: it is based on specific circumstances, the relationships of specific people at a specific time with a number of individual characteristics.

Filing a supervisory complaint on your own entails the risk of making many mistakes, both in its preparation and in its substantiation. The latest mistakes may even worsen the applicant’s position in the case.

It is important to understand that only a specialist with knowledge in the field of law, i.e., can correctly present a position, emphasize its strengths and find the argument weak. only a lawyer. When preparing a supervisory complaint in a civil case, a lawyer has the opportunity to familiarize himself with the case and find out how the process went. In a supervisory appeal in a civil case, the lawyer will give a legal assessment of the arguments of the court decision and the ruling of the higher court. He will explain his client’s position in a reasoned manner. Will justify what exactly is the incorrectness of the appealed court decisions with references to the norms of substantive and procedural law. Analyze the evidence in the case. In the petition part, he will indicate the most appropriate wording for the client’s interests. The official who needs to file the complaint will choose the right one. Will file a complaint based on all the requirements for a complaint by law. Indicates how to make payments to the state required when filing a supervisory complaint.

Moreover, the lawyer can personally submit a supervisory complaint to the relevant person at the reception and additionally orally present to him the position of his client.

Lawyer Ilya Igorevich Pankov can provide qualified assistance in preparing a supervisory complaint in a civil case and presenting your position to officials.

Thus, whether you try to file a supervisory complaint yourself and risk making many mistakes that could worsen your position in a civil case, or entrust the preparation of a supervisory complaint to professionals and, thereby, convey your position in the most well-reasoned manner, and therefore increase your chance of winning - the choice is yours !

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Plan of cassation appeal to the Supreme Court

After cassation, the appeal to the civil division of the Supreme Court is progressing according to plan:

Step 1 . Prepare a new cassation appeal and attachments to it. The package of documents will depend on the submission method you choose. There are various ways to contact the Supreme Court. For example, through the website of the Supreme Court supporting the electronic filing service. In this case, you will only need to fill out the registration data on the State Services portal, fill out the proposed form and attach a scan of the cassation and receipt of payment of the state duty. From our experience, we believe that the advantage of the electronic method of filing documents is that there is no need to attach numerous copies of acts of lower authorities. You can also submit a package of documents in the classic way: in person or by mail.

What else do you need to attach to the original complaint to the Supreme Court:

Its copies according to the number of persons participating in the case.
Certified copies of the acts being appealed (confirmation of sending to persons is not required). We would like to remind you that the cassation rulings, appellate decisions, and court decisions you enclose must contain the blue stamps of the court that made these decisions.
Receipt of payment of the state duty (the amount for individuals is 150 rubles. If you are exempt from paying the state duty in other authorities, when submitting an application at this stage you also do not pay the fee).
Power of attorney for a representative (if he is involved in filing a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court).

STEP 2. Wait for the results of the initial review of the complaint by the filter judge. Depending on the method chosen, you will receive a notification in writing (by mail) or electronically (the status of your application will change from “received by the court” to “accepted for proceedings” in your personal account)

STEP 3 . If the cassation is accepted, a date will be set for consideration of the dispute in the Supreme Court. In our experience, the dispute will be resolved within two or three months (depending on whether the case was requested from the archive).

Important. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms gives you the right to file a supplement to your appeal.

Consultation on appeal to the Supreme Court

+7(495) 728-99-14

Preparation of cassation appeals in the RF Armed Forces. Appeal to the Supreme Court. Lawyer for complaints to the Supreme Court.

How to write a complaint to the Supreme Court (second cassation)

After cassation, without complying with formal requirements, it is impossible to initiate an appeal procedure in the Supreme Court. Therefore, before submitting documents to the Supreme Court, you need to carefully study the criteria for them. Other requests not provided for by procedural legislation should not be contained in the basis of the cassation appeal.

As follows from the articles of the Code of Civil Procedure, the complaint (second cassation) must contain:

Information about the court considering the appeal (division of the Supreme Court, address)
Your data and procedural status (full name, address, applicant - defendant or plaintiff)
Data of other participants in the case (your representatives - a lawyer or lawyer, the other party to the dispute - the plaintiff or defendant, third parties)
The subject of the dispute, information about the act being appealed and other decisions and determinations adopted in the case.
Grounds for appeal. In this part of the cassation it is necessary to indicate what the violations are and provide arguments confirming the applicant’s position, i.e. yours. Based on our experience in appeals to the Supreme Court, we recommend that you indicate the sheet numbers of archival materials; it is not recommended to attach copies, since in this case the case will not be retrieved from the archive. We also note that such a characteristic as materiality is evaluative, depends on the judicial discretion and is established in relation to each specific dispute.
Indications of legal norms and laws that confirm the presence of violations committed in court decisions, appeals or after the first cassation.
Your requirements are stated at the end of the cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. We will clarify that since the competence of judges at this stage is limited, it is impossible to ask for a re-evaluation of evidence and circumstances.
Application documents.

Note. You can ask for a new decision or a new trial depending on whether there is a need for further examination of the evidence and re-evaluation of the available data.