Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

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The building of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (“ Senate and Synod ”) in St. Petersburg

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation ( Russian Конституционный Суд Российской Федерации ) is the Russian constitutional control body.

The court was established in 1991. It checks federal laws and other legal norms for their compatibility with the Constitution of the Russian Federation . Since 2008 the seat of the Constitutional Court is Saint Petersburg .

task

The task of the Constitutional Court is to protect the constitution, civil and human rights and ensure constitutional sovereignty over the entire territory of the Russian Federation. The competences and the procedure of the constitutional court are regulated in the constitutional court law (VerfGG). Art. 3 VerfGG contains an opening clause according to which further competences of the court can be determined in federation treaties and federal constitutional laws.

composition

Peretiatkovich.jpg

The Constitutional Court consists of two chambers with ten and nine judges each, but the main disputes are dealt with in the plenum in which the judges of both chambers are represented.

The 19 constitutional judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the proposal of the President of Russia in accordance with Article 128, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution . There is an age limit of 70 years. Constitutional judges cannot be re-elected.

In addition to Russian citizenship and a minimum age of 40 years, other requirements are placed on candidates for the office of constitutional judge. A high reputation, higher legal education, at least 15 years of work experience in a legal profession and a recognized high qualification in the field of law are required. Therefore, 12 constitutional judges currently have the academic degree of Doctor of Law.

A mandate for a member of parliament, another state office, the maintenance of a private law firm and political activity are incompatible with the office of a judge.

The powers of the constitutional judges can only be revoked or restricted in cases provided for by law.

If at least three-quarters of the judges are present, the court can make decisions.

President of the Constitutional Court

Valery Sorkin , President of the Constitutional Court since 2003

Responsibilities

The Constitutional Court always examines the constitutionality of legal norms .

A distinction must be made between the following legal norms:

  1. At the federal level: Federal laws and normative acts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council, the State Duma and the Government of the Russian Federation
  2. At the level of the federal subjects : constitutions of the republics, statutes, as well as laws and other normative acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation , which were issued on issues falling within the competence of the organs of state power of the Russian Federation and the joint competence of the organs of state power of the Russian Federation and the organs of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation fall.
  3. Contracts between the bodies of state power of the Russian Federation and those of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as contracts between the bodies of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation
  4. International treaties of the Russian Federation that have not entered into force .

However, the court cannot act of its own accord, but must be called upon.

The following procedures are provided:

The Constitutional Court can also be approached to clarify questions of constitutional interpretation. The interpretation of the Constitutional Court is official and binding.

Major decisions

First Chechen War

On July 31, 1995, the Chechnya judgment was pronounced in a plenary session. The Constitutional Court declared the presidential decrees and government ordinances, which had served as the legal basis for the combat operations of the Russian armed forces from the end of 1994 in the First Chechnya War, to be constitutional because the president and the government had acted within their constitutional competence.

death penalty

The Constitutional Court put a moratorium into effect in 1999 suspending all death sentences and forbidding any further death sentences. In 2009 the court ruled that by signing the European Convention on Human Rights , which prohibits the death penalty in peacetime, the Russian Federation committed itself to abolishing it. Thus, according to the then chairman of the court, Valery Sorkin , the death penalty has been finally abolished in Russia .

Non-governmental organizations

By order no. 10-P of April 8, 2014, the court declared the law amending the law on non-governmental organizations to be constitutional, according to which Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must register as "foreign agents" since July 2012 if they are politically active are active and receive financial support from abroad.

Judgments of the ECHR

By decision of July 14, 2015 No. 21-P, the Constitutional Court took a position on the relationship between the Russian constitution and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights . It first pointed out that the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had become part of the legal system of the Russian Federation through its ratification and accession to the Council of Europe in 1996 . Regardless of the binding nature of decisions of the ECHR, they should not be enforced if they “contradict the fundamental constitutional values ​​of the Russian Federation”. As a result, the Duma passed a law of December 14, 2016, an amendment to the law on the Constitutional Court , which introduced a special procedure for checking the enforceability of decisions by international organizations. The court can deny enforceability if the decisions contradict the foundations of the state structure of the Russian Federation or the basic rights laid down in the constitution. The background to this was the successful lawsuit by former Yukos owners before the ECHR, which ordered Russia to pay 1.9 billion euros in damages.

literature

  • Wladimir I. Fadeev, Carola Schulze (ed.): Constitutional jurisdiction in the Russian Federation and in the Federal Republic of Germany. Round table discussion at Moscow Kutafin State Law University on October 9-10, 2012 . University of Potsdam , 2013

Web links

Commons : Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Presidential Decree of December 23, 2007
  2. ↑ "About the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation" (Constitutional Court Act - VerfGG)
  3. ↑ Manfred Quiring: "Legal nihilism prevails in the entire Russian state apparatus" Die Welt , January 18, 2010
  4. ↑ Tigran Beknazar: Supreme State Emergency Law in Russia: State Emergency and Emergency Powers of the Executive. On the Chechen judgment of the Russian Constitutional Court of July 31, 1995, ZaöRV 1997, pp. 161–193
  5. ↑ Russia: Constitutional Court blocks the death penalty. Retrieved February 7, 2013 .
  6. ↑ a b Death penalty abolished in Russia. Retrieved February 7, 2013 .
  7. ↑ The Constitutional Court declares the so-called "Agents Act" to be the constitutional Institute for Law, Economy and Trade in the Baltic Sea Region, April 25, 2014
  8. ↑ Alexander Bezborodov: Constitutional Court against the EU Court of Human Rights ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Russia currently 35-2015, p. 9 f. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.beiten-burkhardt.com
  9. ↑ Review of the enforcement of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights by the Russian Constitutional Court Institute for Law, Economy and Trade in the Baltic Sea Region, December 16, 2016