Changes to Judicial Proceedings

Cassation review

According to Pravo.ru, from 10 May, the supreme courts of republics, regional and territorial courts, courts of cities of federal significance, the court of the autonomous region, and courts of autonomous districts will begin hearing cases as a cassation instance for district courts and justices of the peace. This procedure will apply where the parties have already exhausted other statutory means of appeal. At the same time, the Civil Procedure Code preserves the possibility of further appeal to the Supreme Court.

This marks the departure from the model in effect since 2019, when separate cassation courts of general jurisdiction were established for cassation review, operating outside the regional system. Under the new approach, some of those powers are being returned to the courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, meaning that cassation review for these cases will once again take place at the regional level.

Ivan Zvonkov, Manager at FBK Legal, notes:

As was explicitly stated in the explanatory note and repeatedly emphasised by the legislature, the 2019 judicial reform was aimed at strengthening the independence of the judiciary and establishing extraterritorial cassation instances. The current changes appear to be a significant step backward from these objectives. The model for reviewing judicial acts is once again being ‘compressed’ into a more insular, regional framework, which had previously been criticised for risks of a formalistic approach and insufficient impartiality.