Alternative airfield for Medvedev: what Putin creates the “supercourt” for
The transfer of the Supreme Court and the Higher Court of Arbitration of Russia to Saint Petersburg, which was never completed, quite unexpectedly turned into their merger.
The judicial power in Russia will reach the highest stage of concentration. Vladimir Putin declared last Friday his intention to merge the Supreme Court (SC) and the Higher Court of Arbitration (HCA) of Russia. During his speech at the Petersburg economy forum Putin addressed the employees of the Presidential administration and the judges: “The issue is a serious one, everything must be carefully considered and weighed”. Judging by the fact that the draft law will be submitted to the Duma really soon, only some details need considering and weighing – the strategic decision has been taken already. A source of Forbes at a high position in the judicial system confirms: the new body will be created even before the higher courts make their long-expected transfer to Saint Petersburg.
What will this merger give to the judicial system? Who is interested in this reform?
No place for Lebedev and Ivanov
The source of Forbes at a high position in the judicial system reminds that the idea of uniting the highest court instances has a long story. According to the source, the first project of creation of a “supercourt” on the basis of the SC, HCA and the Constitutional Court (CC) was discussed in Kremlin as early as 2002-2003, and later Putin favorably mentioned in public the concept of merger of the HCA and SC, which he chose.
Advocate Yury Gervis reminds that when Dmitry Medvedev was President, he often suggested transferring the HCA and SC as well as the judicial department under the SC from the “old Moscow”. When the idea of transfer of the officials to the “new Moscow” lost steam, the project of transfer of the three supreme courts of Russia from Moscow to Saint Petersburg again got the principal attention.
The Constitutional Court was the first to go to the banks of Neva – it cost 5,3 billion roubles. Gervis thinks it possible that the merger of the HCA and SC will likely include the transfer to Saint Petersburg and staff rotation: “And the main question is: who will head this super-body?”
The source of Forbes at a high position in the judicial system says that the position of the head of the new unified court is most likely not created for Ivanov or Lebedev. First, both HCA and SC have the history of a natural professional competition, and strengthening of the positions of one of the court heads will be illogical from the viewpoint of the country leaders. Second, Ivanov did not mention his desire to compete for the third term (his current term as the head of the HCA expires in January of 2017, soon before the end of Putin’s presidential term).
Some sources told Forbes of the most popular version: the merger of the judicial system is done for the sake of the chief lawyer of the country, Dmitry Medvedev. Advocate Alexey Mikhalchik says: “There has been much talk about it in the lobby. The chair of the chairman of the unified court is a kind of an alternative airfield for the Prime Minister Medvedev”.
The source of Forbes at a high position in the judicial system did not comment on the issue of Medvedev’s nomination, but reminded that the current prime Minister, back in his days as President, mentioned a new job at least once. In an interview to TV Rain he promised: “I don’t know, but I am convinced that I will find myself a job, and an interesting one”.
“They merge the good with the bad”
Advocate Alexey Mikhalchik reminds: “The country actually has two judicial verticals, which are developing in parallel: the HCA of Anton Ivanov, who was in the same year as Dmitry Medvedev, and the Supreme Court headed by Viacheslav Lebedev. Such dualism creates divergences in the court practice: when those courts pass judgments, they follow the same norms of civil laws, but interpret them differently”.The judicial system source is categorical: “They merge the good with the bad”. While positive things were happening to the arbitration system (simplification of the access to arbitration proceedings, speeding-up of consideration of the cases, younger staff), the common law courts had the same old problems (lack of staff, expiry of periods of case consideration).
A source in the HCA points out that it is not absorption but a mere merger on equal terms. Evgeny Zhilin, Associated Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", believes that the reform should “stimulate the increase of the Russian jurisdiction competitiveness”. Putin spoke on this too – the merger will allow unified approaches to the resolution of disputes involving citizens and organizations, public and local authorities.
Still, there are doubts. Advocate Elena Lvova believes: “These are two completely different institutions, with different procedural objectives. The Supreme Court works with individuals, the Court of Arbitration – with legal entities, and their merger will produce no positive changes. Concentration of the judicial power in one place is aimed at the reduction of the citizens’ rights, so that they would resort to the European Court less frequently”.
The official spokesperson for the HCA informed Forbes that, “as the President said, the realization of that task (merger of the Courts) includes much serious work, and the Higher Court of Arbitration will take active part in it”.
See the source of the publication here.
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