07/09/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09994

NEW RUSSIAN LEGAL CODE

Russia has taken a significant step toward overhauling its legal system. On July 1^st, a new legal code went into effect that governs the prosecution of criminal cases and protects the rights of the accused.

Under the new law, anyone charged with a crime must now be brought before a court within forty-eight hours. Defendants may now demand a lawyer as soon as they are arrested. If acquitted, they will no longer be subjected to double jeopardy -- that is, being tried twice for the same crime -- except in the rarest cases. Moreover, the legal code enshrines the fundamental concept of presumption of innocence.

Dmitri Kozak, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff, said the new code will make Russia’s legal system comparable to those in the United States and Western Europe. With the new legal code, Mr. Kozak said, Russia has "made a big step in placing the interests of the individual higher than the interests of the state."

The code is intended to introduce an adversarial process, with prosecutors required to argue the facts of a case while the defense will have new powers to challenge evidence, witnesses, and procedures. Judges are to act as impartial arbiters. The Russian government has already pledged one-and-one-half billion dollars to hire more judges, raise their salaries, and provide new personnel and equipment to prosecutors.

It will take time for the new code to take hold in the day-to-day workings of the Russian legal system. Today, there are credible charges that corruption remains rampant, politically and economically motivated prosecutions are frequent, and coercion of suspects is common. The citizens of Russia deserve a legal system in which they can have trust and confidence.

It is hoped that, over time, the new legal code will bring order and fairness to the Russian system. The Russian people have long waited for a time when their individual rights are placed above the power of the state.