Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Russia has a new criminal procedure code [hereinafter the "Code"] that became effective on July 1, 2002. The Code undertakes, in a single enactment, to change a criminal justice system widely condemned by Russians, as well as other nations, as oppressive to one that subjects the criminal justice system - police, prosecutors, judges - to the rule of law. The Code, which "will transform the Russian criminal justice system,"' presents a rich and detailed blueprint for a due process model of criminal adjudication.2 The Code is the result of a sustained reform effort by a Commission headed by Dimitrii Kozak. The Commission "produced some 3,500 amendments to the old code, using judicial systems in western Europe and the United States as a model."3 President Putin, "who waf trained as a lawyer, proposed 100 amendments himself."4 The Code is "the most important reform in Russia since the great reform of 1864."' This article has several objectives. It will summarize the key provisions of the Code and relate those provisions to comparable doctrines in American constitutional and criminal procedure law. It will also assess the likelihood that the Code will achieve its reform objectives in light of Russia's history of the use of criminal law as an instrument of repression. An Appendix presents an English translation of the complete text of the Code.

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