The European Court of Human Rights issued rulings on seven of my applications concerning several unlawful detentions and arrests. They were first announced back on January 14. There are seven cases and five applications related to them.
In short: Russia’s lying, corrupt, and hypocritical judicial system has been dealt a blow.
Here is my new video about it:
This was to be expected, really. There is video footage of every detention, and it completely exposes both the police officers who gave false testimony and the judges who “failed to see” the obvious.
A detailed press release is available on the website of our RosEuroCourt project:
Congratulations to my RosEuroCourt partner Konstantin Terekhov, my lawyer Olga Mikhailova, and everyone who defends citizens’ rights at the ECHR — these excellent rulings will be useful precedents going forward.
This success makes me happy, but it also saddens me.
Compensation for these unlawful rulings will come not out of the pockets of crooked judges, but from the Russian state budget. Although we are actively working to change that.
We throw trillions at the judicial and law enforcement system — 20% of the budget. And yet it is impossible to get justice even in a trivial case anywhere except the ECHR. But how many people are actually able to take a case all the way to the ECHR? Why should anyone have to wait several years to get a fair court ruling?
Why is the nearest court willing to conduct proceedings as the law requires for a Russian citizen located in Strasbourg?
My first three decisions if I become president of Russia: release political prisoners; adopt a law to combat illicit enrichment; - judicial reform.
In reality, Russia does not need to reform its judicial system — it needs to create one. What exists now is something vile, built on “telephone justice” (informal decisions dictated by officials behind the scenes) and bribery. No one can get justice in these so-called “courts.” No reform will succeed until there are actual courts.
There will be no growth and no investment.
Urgent measures:
- eliminate the courts’ dependence on the Presidential Administration, which currently appoints judges and confers ranks on them,
- eliminate judges’ dependence on court chairpersons, who assign cases,
- stop recruiting judges almost exclusively from among court clerks and the “siloviki” (security and law enforcement personnel). At least 50% of judges should come from the legal profession and academia. Introduce a cooling-off period before appointing former officials and court employees (that is, they should spend 2–3 years working in the private sector, in legal practice, or in teaching),
- radically expand the powers of jury courts. They should hear the majority of cases, including commercial ones,
- introduce the election of justices of the peace.
If, like me, you want a fair court system, then support my candidacy and join the campaign with me.