Paul Goble
Staunton, June 6 – The Russian Supreme Court has asked the Duma to amend existing law to allow cases of “a terrorist nature” to be heard not just in the limited number of courts as of now but in all district military tribunals, an implicit acknowledgement of just how rapidly these cases are multiplying.
As recently as 2015, such cases were heard only in the courts of Moscow and the North Caucasus. Since then, courts in the Middle Volga and the Far East have been added to the list. Now the Supreme Court wants all military courts throughout the country to be allowed to hold such trials (sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/legal/2023/06/d48207/).
This is an implicit acknowledgement of just how rapidly the number of such cases has expanded. Some of course are entirely fabricated by the authorities to repress the population; but others may be the product of actual conduct by people within the borders of the Russian Federation directed against that state system.
One of the reasons the SOVA human rights organization says Moscow is taking this step is to save money: many judges in Siberia are currently forced to fly to the Russian capital and then back to neighboring Siberian cities because there are no direct flights between those locations. The amendments if passed will eliminate that need.
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