roblems with Russian Judges Now So Great Even Powers are Complaining, Gulakov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – The shortcomings of Russian judges and the Russian judicial system as a whole are now so obvious that even those in positions of power are beginning to complain, according to Igor Gulakov, an administrative aide in an arbitrage court says, although the judges are so integrated in the power vertical that it is “simply absurd” to treat them as a distinct group.

            According to Gulakov, one of the biggest problems is that even when the problems are discussed, court officials warn the expert community that they must keep their recommendations short because judges are so overworked that they simply won’t read anything longer than five or ten pages (newizv.ru/article/general/15-07-2021/nevezhestvo-korruptsiya-peregruzhennost-10-problem-suda-v-rossii).

            In the hopes that judges and those concerned about judges will read his recommendations, Gulakov offers a listing of what he says are the ten most serious problems of the judges of his country:

1.      Inadequate education and training

2.      Corruption

3.      Lack of a clearly defined career latter to ensure that higher court judges have the experience they need

4.      An overreliance on the security services as the pool for recruits to the judiciary, something that disposes them to find for the government in almost all cases.

5.      Dependence of judges on and integration into the power vertical of the executive branch

6.      Poor use of written materials in cases so that there are unnecessary delays in scheduling trials or hearing them to the end once they begin

7.      The ignorance of judges about business procedures so that they often cannot understand the cases before them

8.      Confusion about what constitutes evidence and what does not

9.      Failure to come up with independent decisions and overreliance on the submissions of one side or the other, often copying them rather than writing their own

10.   Overloaded schedules which mean that judges are forced to dispose of most cases in five minutes or less rather than giving them the time justice requires.