The elder doesn't mind

Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin supported the initiative of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights to conduct an independent examination of high-profile cases - the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and the story surrounding the death of Sergei Magnitsky. Thus, the head of the Constitutional Court did not heed the concerns of the Presidium of the Council of Judges, who, in an address to him, called this initiative contrary to the principle of equality of citizens before the law and the court.

The proposal to conduct an independent examination was made at the last meeting of the Council by former judge of the Constitutional Court Tamara Morshchakova, and the president was interested in this initiative. However, members of the Presidium of the Council of Judges saw this as “illegal interference in the administration of justice by the court,” since, in their opinion, only judicial bodies have the right to assess the legality of judicial acts. They especially drew Zorkin's attention to the fact that the proposal of the member of the presidential council contradicts the Constitution and concerns, in particular, cases in which the verdicts have not entered into legal force.

The considerations expressed by the judges did not bother Zorkin. According to him, quoted by Kommersant, “the independence of judges, being a fundamental value of any democratic state, does not imply complete closure of the judiciary,” and “the powers of judges are directly related to their responsibility, which implies, first of all, the accountability of the judiciary to society.” The head of the Constitutional Court believes that the public reaction to both individual court decisions and “established practice in certain categories of cases” “cannot be limited from the point of view of the possibility of analyzing such cases and their assessment, including those expressed publicly.” Rejecting the idea of ​​the Presidium of the Council of Judges about the violation of the principle of equality of citizens before the law and the court, he noted that what was said in particular “applies to those high-profile, high-profile cases where the most important and at the same time the most vulnerable human rights are affected - to life, personal freedom and physical integrity."

As for the sentences that have not entered into force, Zorkin said that members of the presidential council are not going to conduct an examination of such decisions, however, they “have the right to select and consider those cases that, in their opinion, have received the greatest resonance in society, drawing the attention of the president to them "

The newspaper, with reference to the judges of the Constitutional Court, reports that Zorkin’s response to the Presidium of the Council of Judges was approved by the Constitutional Court in its entirety.