MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed merging the Supreme Court with the Supreme Commercial Court, and amending the constitution to match.
Putin made this suggestion during his speech at the international economic forum in St Petersburg. He added that this is a serious issue that requires careful consideration.
He also urged members of the judiciary and legislature to unify their efforts, and said that this issue should be considered this fall.
A draft law will be submitted to the legislature in the near future, he said.
As it stands, in the Russian judicial system general jurisdiction courts consider civil lawsuits, crimes and cases involving administrative offenses. This branch of the system is headed by the Supreme Court.
Commercial courts hear economic disputes between legal entities pertaining to civil, administrative and other relationships.
During a plenary meeting last month in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, lawmaker Yelena Mizulina reportedly described the two-branch court system as having a negative impact on the general public.
Supreme Commercial Court Chairman Anton Ivanov warned last March that this kind of merger risks weakening the federal supreme courts’ influence on regional justice, saying, "There is not a single country where an entire federal system would link to one court - not with such a large number of disputes and regions."
He said it would be too difficult for a single court system to operate in Russia, "and it will practically lose influence on the proceedings."
He added that commercial courts reporting directly to the Supreme Court would make things worse, as numerous lower general courts report to it already, and the European Court of Human Rights recognizes Russian commercial courts as an effective legal protection tool.
