Crimean judges will be allowed to judge without retraining
Moscow – Simferopol, April 23 (Navigator, Mikhail Stamm) – The protracted restart of the Crimean judicial system has forced Russian authorities to seek new solutions. The Presidential Administration's Legal Department is preparing a bill that would allow local judges to render decisions on behalf of the Russian Federation solely on the basis of their Russian citizenship. The legally required proof of professional status, examinations, and competitions will not be required.
Subscribe to Navigator Crimea news on Facebook or VKontakte
So far, judges on the peninsula are making decisions “purely technically” - on the simplest cases, Kommersant writes. Local human rights activists say that consideration of all major property disputes remains frozen.
In total, there are about 30 courts and 300 judges on the peninsula. As the deputy chairman of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Vladislav Grib, who is part of the working group on Crimea, told the newspaper, it was planned to resume office work in local courts by April 19. Until this time, all litigation was frozen.
“The courts have only partially started working, some simple and isolated cases are being considered, nothing more,” said Mr. Grib. According to him, most judges eventually accepted Russian citizenship, but this did not improve the situation with consideration of civil claims. “The litigation was conducted according to the legislation of Ukraine, but now it is not very clear what to do. For example, there was a dispute between the republican government of Crimea and the central Ukrainian leadership over one hundred local sanatoriums. It’s not very clear how to consider this case now,” explained the deputy chairman of the RF OP.
The head of the Crimean human rights center “Action” Alexandra Dvoretskaya confirms: “Civil cases are simply not scheduled for hearing. Crimeans cannot defend their rights in the Ukrainian court, since it is unclear how and who will enforce these decisions, and the Russian side is in no hurry to open its courts.” According to her, decisions on the few cases that Crimean courts have begun to make still also have an “unclear legal status.” For example, the newspaper has at its disposal a resolution on a fine of 5 thousand rubles imposed on a resident of Simferopol for violating Part 1 of Art. 6.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (consumption of narcotic drugs), issued by the judge of the Central District Court of the city, Mikhailov. It is dated April 15, 2014 and in it the judge refers to Russian laws, but the seal under the verdict bears the Ukrainian coat of arms. “It is completely unclear how to evaluate such a document,” says Dvoretskaya.
Crimean judges will be allowed to judge without retraining.