V.Putin calculated those satisfied with justice

The President believes that the 85% of parties to judicial proceedings do not apply against judgments, which means that they are content with the quality of the courts’ work. Experts argue that the figure is misleading: it includes too many of those, who are simply unable to contest a lamentable outcome, and those, who simply don’t need it.

President Vladimir Putin said during the “direct line” today that the Russian judicial system is evolving and gave an example: “Last year, we implemented the system of courts of appeal for criminal cases, and this year – the system of courts of appeal for civil cases”. One can only guess if this was a slip of the Presidential tongue or insufficient knowledge of the subject, but in fact the reform was done in completely different way: the instances of appeal for civil cases appeared within the common law courts on January 1^st of 2012, and for criminal cases – on January 1^st of 2013.

However, V.Putin is fully convinced of the citizens’ trust in the Judicial. He said: “Of all cases, only 15% of the parties to proceedings go to higher instances to try and review the case”. He concluded: “All the rest are content with the quality of the courts’ work, with the results of the court sessions. The figures speak for themselves”.

But there were some, who did not believe the President. One of the anchors of the “direct line” said: “You are being argued against in the Internet. Data of a survey is given that only 20% trust the courts”. In all probability, meaning the data of the “Public Opinion” foundation published last July. That survey showed that negative attitude towards the courts still prevailed in the society (40% of those questioned), and only 24% gave positive evaluations of the activity of the courts and judges.

The President parried: “There are people of different views in the Internet. The Internet is a special communication environment. There are highly skilled professionals as well as those who act and speak under the effect of emotions”. He repeated his words: “There are doubtlessly many complaints against the judicial system, many of them founded. But the facts disprove the notion that the Judicial in Russia is of low quality”.

The anchorman did not desist: “Maybe they do not contest judgments because they have no trust”.

V.Putin insisted: “Quite the contrary. If a person has no trust in the instance that passed the judgment, he goes to the higher instance”.

The experts are skeptical. Tamara Morschakova, a retired Constitutional Court Judge, told Pravo.Ru: “One should rather say that people do not apply against judgments because they have no confidence that a higher instance would correct anything at all. As far as criminal cases go, this if completely clear. The higher court instances already have their positions and they pass it down to the lower-level courts. Why would a citizen complain?” Advocate Alexander Bolomatov, Associated Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", agrees with her and notes: “In certain circumstances, citizens and legal entities may refuse to go court at all as they do not see it as an efficient mechanism of protection of their rights. The number of appeals against judgments is not the sole criterion of satisfaction with the quality of the courts’ work. Significant and consistent reforms are needed in order to achieve that satisfaction”.

The very figure of 15% causes doubts. It may be arrived at with the account of the cases, where there is no actual dispute between the parties, series of claims moved by state institutions, the cases, when the losing party is sure that the chances of exacting any money from it are minimal, and criminal cases judged in special proceedings. T.Morschakova reminds: “60% of cases are considered without investigation, because the accused agrees with the accusation. Naturally, no appeal follows”. And A.Bolomatov believes that over 50% of judgments are appealed against, if real disputes are taken into consideration.

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