Putin Evaluates Judges' Work

Russian court system has successfully adapted itself to new conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vladimir Putin notes on Tuesday during a session with judges on the outcomes of 2020.

In Russia, almost 2,500 courts of different jurisdictions, and all of them, in such a difficult time as the pandemic, according to the President, worked well and smoothly.

During the pandemic in 2020, even more cases were considered in Russia than in the previous 2019 - by 3,920,000, which, according to Putin, indicates an increase in citizens' confidence in our Themis. Also, the Russian judicial system was highly appreciated by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe.

In particular, in the issue of prompt decision-making in comparison with 47 courts of Western states, our judicial system obviously wins. Average time for consideration of civil cases and economic disputes: in Russia - 50 days, in Germany - 220 days, in France - 420 days, and in Italy - 527 days.

It is indicative that during the pandemic, the courts were empowered, based on the epidemiological situation, to postpone some non-socially significant and non-urgent cases, but preferred to consider almost all applications from citizens and organizations. At the same time, of course, special attention was paid primarily to social issues.

During the pandemic, the number of bankruptcy cases of citizens increased: from 50,700 to 74,600 cases. To stabilize the economy and help the victims, the Supreme Court and the government have developed a legal mechanism for introducing a moratorium on the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings in respect of certain categories of debtors from April 6, 2020 to January 7, 2021. The number of disputes on non-fulfillment of contractual obligations has also increased recently.