The State Duma adopted amendments prohibiting judges of the Constitutional Court from publishing their dissenting opinions

The State Duma adopted in the third, final reading amendments to the law "On the Constitutional Court", which, in particular, will prohibit the publication of a dissenting opinion of judges. This was reported by the news agency "Moscow".

According to these amendments, the federal constitutional law "On the Constitutional Court" will prohibit publishing a dissenting opinion of a judge (judge's disagreement with the position of the court as a whole) or an opinion (partial disagreement of a judge with a court decision or reasoning) in any form, as well as publicly on refer him.

Also, according to the adopted law, the number of judges of the Constitutional Court will be reduced from 19 to 11, and the president will be able to submit proposals to the Federation Council on the termination of their powers. The Constitutional Court receives the right, at the request of the president, to check for constitutionality of laws before they are signed by the president and for the possibility of enforcing decisions of an international court in Russia (for example, the ECtHR).

The bill was submitted to the State Duma in mid-September in connection with the amendments to the Constitution adopted in July. At the stage of the first reading, the draft did not include restrictions on the publication of the dissenting opinion of the judges of the Constitutional Court. However, for the second reading, State Duma deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov and Senator of the Federation Council Andrey Klishas proposed their amendments to Article 76 of the law "On the Constitutional Court" on the dissenting opinion of judges. The first and second readings took place on 13 and 21 October respectively.

On November 9, President Putin signed a law on the introduction of amendments to the FKZ "On the Constitutional Court", which, in particular, will prohibit the publication of dissenting opinions of judges. This is written on the "Official Internet Portal of Legal Information".

• Some lawyers criticized Krasheninnikov's and Klishas' proposals.
• Elena Lukyanova, Doctor of Law, prepared an analysis of the draft law for VTimes . The lawyer draws attention to the fact that if the amendments are adopted, it will become even more difficult to apply to the Constitutional Court, and the court itself will become even more closed and non-transparent.