Defendants in crimes against the state denied a jury trial

In December 2008, the State Duma passed a bill removing certain crimes, including terrorism, espionage, hostage taking, and mass disorder, from the jurisdiction of jury trials. Under the new law, such cases will be heard by panels of three judges, rather than by juries. Supporters of the legislation justified it as an allegedly necessary measure in the war on terrorism. They also alleged that clan relations in the North Caucasus made it impossible to empanel objective juries there.

One of the bill's authors, Duma Security Committee chief Vladimir Vasilyev, argued that the measure was needed because juries have acquitted many suspects despite strong incriminating evidence. Vasilyev, a member of the United Russia party, argued the trend was particularly visible in the volatile North Caucasus region, where he asserted that ties of clan and kin prompt juries to go easy on terrorism suspects. "Do we want to look like good guys moving toward democracy?" he said, addressing critics of the bill during Friday's debate. "I do, too, but the situation demands that we take this action."

Critics of the bill, including the Public Chamber, liberal Duma deputies, some judges, lawyers, and former jurors criticized the draft legislation as a constitutional violation and a major step backwards in the protection of individual liberties and called on the president not to sign it.

However, on December 31, President Medvedev signed the bill into law.

Jury trials were introduced in 1993, having been barred for nearly three-quarters of a century during Communist rule.

See also at Agentura.Ru:

• In Counterterrorism, Medvedev Follows in Putin’s Road