The online plenary session of the Supreme Court held a meeting to summarize the results of 2020. The President, heads of the legislative and executive branches of government, ministries and departments, representatives of the judicial community took part in the work.
Vadim Krasnoselsky greeted the participants of the meeting, noting that the work of judges requires great responsibility and professionalism, as it is directly related to the fate of the people.
The Chairman of the Supreme Court Adrian Penkovsky said that there was a slight decrease in quantitative indicators in almost all areas of judicial work in 2020. Many meetings had to be postponed due to COVID-19, the forced self-isolation of both the participants in the process and the judges. Adrian Penkovsky emphasized that this did not affect the quality of the consideration of cases. Each specific case was considered individually, the necessary adjustments were made in the procedural terms in order to fully ensure the right to judicial protection.
The report on the work of the Collegium for civil cases was made by the First Deputy Chairman of the PMR Supreme Court Elena Polozova. According to the information voiced by her, the panel with a staffing of 12 judges, was represented by 8 judges (from August - 9) in 2020. The workload per judge was 76 cases (in 2019 - 124 cases). 16757 civil cases were under consideration in the courts of the republic in the reporting period, 15404 of which were received in 2020. The proceedings were completed in 15199 cases (2269 cases less than in 2019, or 13%). Most of the civil cases - 40% or 5801 cases - are related to the evasion of payment for housing and utilities. In second place are disputes about the collection of mandatory payments – 18,7% or 2694 cases. Conflicts based on family relations are the third - 14% or 2022 cases.
Olga Kapinus spoke about results of the work of the Collegium on criminal cases. She acquainted the participants of the meeting with some statistical data. The average annual load on a panel judge in 2020 was 101 cases (in 2019 - 114 cases). The Collegium consisted of 8, and since May - 7 judges. The courts of first instance considered 757 cases (in 2019 - 1026) during the reporting period.
City and district courts of the republic considered 1217 criminal cases in 2020 (in 2019 - 1383). Persons found guilty of committing crimes were sentenced to real imprisonment in 43% of cases. We are talking about 506 convicts, including 22 minors. 690 people were sentenced to sentences not related to imprisonment. 53 of these were assigned correctional labor, 128 compulsory labor, including 3 minors. 182 convicts were fined, 27 of them did not reach the age of 18. A conditional sentence to imprisonment was brought to 325 convicts, including 27 minors. Another two convicts were punished in the form of other measures.
As for the nature of criminal offenses: 323 cases - crimes against property, 141 - in the sphere of illegal drug trafficking, 136 - against the order of management, 132 - crimes against life and health, 83 - in the field of road safety. Olga Kapinus emphasized that these categories of crimes are largely due to social reasons. 338 convicts committed crimes while intoxicated. 857 people are able-bodied persons without a permanent source of income. Another 668 convicts, 11 of which were minors, had a previous conviction.
Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court Igor Bogdanov, talking about the work of the judicial Collegium for cases of administrative offenses, noted that judges of the collegiums for criminal and civil cases also took part in the work of the Collegium due to lack of staffing in the reporting period. The courts of the republic in the reporting period had 9921 cases of administrative offenses, 9652 of which were considered in total. Administrative penalties were imposed in 8725 cases, 6748 of which were fined; administrative arrest was applied in 1647 cases. Warning was issued in 271 cases, other types of punishment were imposed in another 59 cases. The proceedings were terminated in 552 cases. Most often, citizens were subjected to administrative punishments - in 8523 cases, less often officials - in 158 cases, legal entities in 44 cases.
In addition to carrying out the main activities, judges of the Supreme Court provide practical and consulting assistance to city and district courts of the republic. In addition, the judges actively interacted with the PMR Supreme Council, took part in the development of specialized legislations during the reporting period.
Summing up the results of the work of the Supreme Court in 2020, the President drew attention of the meeting participants to the necessity to master and widely use modern means of communication in legal proceedings. We are talking about conducting court sessions online. An appropriate legislative mechanism was developed and submitted to the Supreme Council for consideration in March last year. Vadim Krasnoselsky emphasized that the issue is especially acute in cases in which people are in places of imprisonment.
Speaking about parole, the President recommended using this mechanism as much as possible, giving preference to parole over pardon. Vadim Krasnoselsky drew attention to the limited time allotted for the study of materials when considering cases by the Pardon Commission.
When considering cases on economic crimes, the President recommended that judges pay special attention to the nature of the offense and the presence of intent, not allowing the transition of civil law relations to criminal ones.
In general, the President recognized the work of the PMR Supreme Court in 2020 as satisfactory and expressed gratitude to the judges for their activities aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens.
