Ensuring the Independence and Autonomy of the Judiciary in the Context of the 2020 Constitutional Reform

The paper analyzes the amendments to the Constitution proposed by the President of the Russian Federation in connection with certain elements of the constitutional and legal status of the judge, evaluates the possible limits of the change of the Basic Law without distorting the fundamental principles and legal foundations of the Constitution, including ensuring the independence and autonomy of the judiciary and the principle of separation of powers. According to the amendments, the powers of the President and the legislature regarding their influence on the judiciary were considerably expanded. It seems that the changes in the legislation detailing the powers of the President to initiate the early termination of the powers of judges and the procedure itself, should be formulated in such a way that the powers of the President and the Council of the Federation in this regard neither overlap with the powers of the qualification boards of judges nor diminish the independence and autonomy of the judiciary. The author argues that judicial self-government plays an extremely important role in maintaining the balance between the branches of government, creating conditions for effective justice through guarantees of independence of judges. In this connection, the decision concerning early termination of the judges’ powers on defamatory grounds without the participation of bodies of the judicial community, in the absence of elements of an adversarial process and without the possibility of appealing against such a decision, significantly diminishes the constitutional and legal status of the judge. As a result of the conducted research it is proved that amendments to the Constitution have redistributed powers between the branches of government, there are real risks of violation of the principle of independence and autonomy of the judiciary. The constitutional reform should result in making laws aimed at preserving the constitutional balance between the branches of government.

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