Olga Tarasova

Yuriy Sidorenko, Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation

Yuriy Sidorenko serves as the Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation. A Distinguished Jurist of Russia, Mr. Sidorenko has been a member of Russia's Supreme Court since 1993. Altogether, Justice Sidorenko worked in the Russian federal judiciary for more than 27 years.

- Justice Sidorenko, you are famous for your position on defending the independence of judges in Russia. How should this independence be expressed?

- First, it is imperative to receive certain legal guarantees. We do have them now. One such assurance is indefinite tenure that can be limited only on the basis of old age. A judge cannot be fired. Only a special panel of judges can remove a member of the judiciary. The other side of the issue is directly connected to economic guarantees. There have been major changes in that area in the past several years. The salaries of judges increased three times. A federal program for the construction of new courthouses has been launched. Hundreds of buildings were renovated.

A unique information system GAS Pravosudie has been created. I should note that, during the administration of President Putin, the court system's budget increased 15 times. Today, I believe that a judge in Russia is protected and provided with sufficient material means. A judge can freely go about fulfilling his duties without having to look back over his shoulder.

- What is the current salary of a Russian judge?

 - A judge of the first tier at a district court receives over two thousand dollars monthly. It is a very good salary in Russia.

- Throughout your years of working in Russia's highest court, you had to sand up for the judicial branch in various conflicts with the executive and the legislative departments of government. Both the President's Administration and the parliament sought to curb the independence of the judiciary. How were you able to overcome that resistance?

- The President's Administration is not monolithic. There are liberal and conservative politicians. The President was observing everything that went on. He looked at our discussions attentively. I know that he ordered the creation of a special commission to consider all of our proposals. Of course, anytime there is an impulse to change something, other forces come into play and try to undermine the reform.

- Justice Sidorenko, you are the Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation. You are a member of the Russian Supreme Court. You graduated from the same law school as President Putin and worked for a long time in Leningrad. Are you personally acquainted with the President?

- I cannot tell you that I know the President very well. We have met during one of the Council's conventions. I am not among the people who have free access to the President. It is true that we went to the same university and graduated just one year apart. I did not know him at that time. We became acquainted when President Putin came to the convention of the Council of Judges. He visited two of our conventions.

- You are not a member of the so-called St. Petersburg clique?

- No, I went to live in Moscow before Vladimir Putin became President. I moved in 1993.

- Why are the lawyers and the judges, as opposed to the legislators, advancing the judicial reform agenda in Russia?

- When perestroika started in 1985, everyone began speaking about the reform of the judiciary. Eventually, the problem of the independence of judges came to the forefront. We did not realize right away that this would turn out to be the most important problem. We though that, once we raise the salaries and build new courthouses, everything would be just fine. At that early time we were not subject to any pressure.

Gradually, we came to the realization that this issue was critical. A number of laws were passed, including the Law on the Status of Judges, and the Judiciary Act, both of which were foundational. It is difficult now to demolish that foundation, and, I think, there is no way back. Even when we go away, these fundamental principles will stay in place. I am firmly convinced of that.

Despite sharp differences, the policies of the different departments of government have been directed towards strengthening the position of the judicial branch in the recent years. You will not find a single government functionary who would oppose the independence of the courts. This is a tangible result.

- To a foreign businessman starting a venture in Russia it is important to know that any possible disputes would be resolved in a civilized manner through an independent court. How are the courts protected from local political influence and corruption?

- As litigation statistics show, generally, representatives of foreign companies prevail in civil trials in the courts of arbitrage. This outcome may be due to the quality of their attorneys, or there may be a different reason for it. Foreign companies win in about sixty percent of the cases. If we take the cases that involve disputes between Russian citizens and government agencies, the citizens prevail seventy percent of the time.

- What is the percentage of acquittals in the Russian court system?

- It is very low, about 4-5 percent. It is not possible to compare the Russian and the American systems on that point. In the United States, 95 percent of cases are resolved through plea-bargaining. There is no trial, just a finding of guilt and a sentence. Of the remaining five percent of cases in the American system, 20 percent result in acquittals. If a similar system were to be implemented in Russia, we'd have about the same figure.

- The American and the Russian court systems are fundamentally different. You just pointed out one of the differences. What is your interest in studying the American justice system?

- The systems are not totally dissimilar. They are different, but they have many things in common. For example, we both have administrative courts. We have jury systems. In Russia, we try to perfect a partial plea-bargaining mechanism. We did have many opponents to this innovation, but I think that it will expedite case processing. We cannot increase the number of judges. We should focus on changing the procedure.

- You have been a judge since 1976. Have you yourself experienced the pressure of the political machine, the legislative branch, or powerful interests?

- I have not. I acquired a reputation, and everyone knew that it would be futile to pressure me into doing something. This never happened. There were, on the other hand, special requests to look at something more attentively.

- Did you feel any criminal pressure? You were working in St. Petersburg in the 1980s and early 1990s. The events of those years have now become the script for the St. Petersburg of Bandits film.

- No, that did not happen to me.