Dagestan ambiguous as regards juries

On March 15, the Russian Constitutional Court will consider the compliance of the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) adopted in December 2008, which cancelled the option of jurymen in a number of litigations, with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In Dagestan, differing opinions can be heard on criminal trials by juries.

Lawyer Rasul Kadiev believes that the authorities try to narrows the scope of juries, as they are afraid of too many acquittals. "However, it is necessary to understand that juries are an integral part of the civil society. Cancellation of juries or narrowing the scope thereof indicate, as a matter of fact, refusal from building the civil society."

Lawyer Gazimagomed Khiriev supports his colleague. "We need not restriction on juries but reform of the militia and teaching law enforcers how to work within the bounds of the law. However, same claims can be presented to prosecutor's offices and professional judges."

Herman Kostrov, adviser of the chairman of the Supreme Court of Dagestan, believes that juries should be awarded with broader powers. "They should be admitted to civil cases too. The country's and republic's leaders emphasize all the time their commitment to build civil society; but this is impossible without full-fledged juries."

Publicist Zubair Zubairuev has noted the need to change the jury's mechanism as such. "The current jurymen's mistakes are the growth diseases; soon they'll learn to properly perform their duties."

Angela Martirosova, deputy head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, noted, in her turn, that the society is not quite ready for juries. "I believe that the scope of juries should be limited. In particular, they may deal with purely domestic (household) conflicts. Jurymen are not keen in subtleties; unlike professional judges, they have emotions in the forefront."