Lawmakers have completed work on the law on the creation of a new system of appellate courts and courts of cassation of general jurisdiction.
The State Duma considered and passed the law on July 17; President Putin signed the law on July 30.
The final version of the law approved appellate courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Sochi, and the courts of cassation of general jurisdiction – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Krasnodar, Samara, Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, and Pyatigorsk. Each court operates within the judicial district, which includes several regions.
The appellate courts that are being created are intended to investigate the complaints against court decisions that were made by the first instance court of the territorial entity of the Russian Federation and did not take legal effect or due to newly discovered facts. However, the appellate instance will not change for decisions made by a justice of the peace or a district court.
The new courts of cassation will handle complaints against decisions of appellate courts, courts of the territorial entities of the Russian Federation, district courts and justices of the peace that have not taken legal effect or due to newly discovered facts.
The chairpersons of the new appellate courts and courts of cassation are to be appointed until October 15, 2018. All the courts specified in the law are to be formed not later than October 15, 2018.
Until the new courts begin to operate all complaints will be handled by the same courts as before.