Changes in the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court "On the practice of courts considering cases challenging decisions of qualification boards of judges on bringing judges of courts of general jurisdiction to disciplinary action

November 15, 2018
Legislation
Gray mouse

Not every ordinary citizen thinks of filing a complaint against a judge. The Qualification Board of Judges is a state body that performs control functions in the judicial system of the Russian Federation and restores the rights of citizens violated by the incompetence or inappropriate behavior of servants of Themis.

Is it possible to complain about a judge?

Few people think that any official can be held accountable, no matter how high-ranking he holds. The first step towards restoring justice and the rule of law will be an appeal to a higher authority. The same goes for federal judges. A complaint must be filed with the Qualification Board of Judges if the action or inaction of a guardian of justice humiliates the dignity of a citizen or leads to a violation of procedural norms and deadlines.

Applying to this judicial body is a responsible matter, but given that in most cases people have no idea how to draw up a document, where to send it and how to proceed further, only a few decide to defend their rights and interests. In practice, this turns out to be quite easy if you know about some nuances. Thanks to the information that is publicly available, it is possible to file a complaint with the Qualification Board of Judges without lawyers. Sample, procedure, rules and form of registration, deadlines for consideration - you don’t have to spend a lot of time to find out about everything.

Field of professional activity

Before writing a denunciation against a servant of the law, you need to understand what competence a higher authority has. It is not difficult to file a complaint with the Judicial Qualification Board (JCC), but does this body really have the appropriate powers to punish an official?

What it is

As we have already said, if a judge somehow violates the rights of participants in the process, then you can complain about him to the supervisory authority, but before filing a complaint you should familiarize yourself with the powers of the panel.

The main powers of the board are:

Conducting checks upon filing a complaint against a judge;
Imposing punishment in the form of administrative liability or disciplinary action on judges, their deputies and chairmen;
Closing, temporary suspension or resumption of court activities based on filed complaints.

It is also worth noting that the board conducts inspections not only based on the filing of complaints. Also, the basis for checking the activities of the court is the publication of materials in the media.

What is different about the High Qualification Board of Judges?

Unlike the CCC operating in the regions, this body is at a higher level in the judicial system. The High Qualification Board of Judges consists of 29 representatives from different judicial authorities. The President of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, federal arbitration and military courts, regional, republican and regional courts of general jurisdiction take part in the appointment of members of the HQCC.

The regional qualification board of judges is not the only and not the last authority to which you can turn to resolve conflict situations and disputes with a judge. The powers of the HQCC are extensive; it occupies a higher position in the judicial system of the Russian Federation, but at the same time, regional QCCs do not depend on it. There is no subordination between these structures, so many are wondering where to first send a complaint - to the High Qualification Board of Judges or to the local QCC?

First, you must send a written appeal to the local collegial body. If the issue cannot be resolved at the regional level, then the complaint must be written to the Higher Qualification Committee indicating the reasons why the previous authority made a negative decision.

Professional ethics of judges

There are many possible reasons for filing a complaint with the Qualification Board of Judges. There can be a huge variety of writing samples, as well as reasons for applying. In one case, the reason for the complaint is the boorish and arrogant attitude of the judge towards the participants in the process, in the other - the incompetence of the servant of Themis in matters of the case under consideration. And some representatives of justice openly grossly violate the law and abuse their official position. All this causes indignation and protest, so judicial arbitrariness should not go unpunished.

In their work, Russian judges are required to be guided by the legislation defining their status in the system of government bodies and the Code of Judicial Ethics. A justice representative must meet a number of requirements, in particular:

Treat litigants with respect. Rudeness, demonstrating cynicism and hypocrisy are not allowed. Regardless of whether the behavior of the participants in the hearing is correct, the judge must remain calm, restrained and reasonable, not give in to emotions, and be patient with everything that happens during the proceedings.
Follow the rules for document preparation. All acts adopted during court hearings must be correctly drawn up. As for the content of resolutions, protocols and decisions, they can contain exclusively reliable, objective information; even the slightest distortion of information is not acceptable.
Do not delay the consideration of cases. Filing a complaint to the Qualification Board of Judges due to violation of deadlines is a common occurrence. In addition, the judge does not have the right to evade consideration of court cases or deal with them selectively.

The reason for judicial arbitrariness is broad power, high corruption of the judicial system and important social status. Representatives of the law feel impunity for their actions.

Grounds for submitting an appeal to the KKS

You cannot do without a complaint against a judge to the panel of judges if:

the time frame for consideration of the case is constantly delayed, the date of the hearing is repeatedly postponed without obvious reasons;
the decision to include evidence in the case does not cover the entire list of evidence, for which there is no documentary justification;
during the hearings, the official expresses commitment to the positions of one of the parties;
the judge is interested in a biased assessment of the evidence provided;
consulting and distributing recommendations to participants in a legal dispute;
failure to comply with the procedural order and deadlines when familiarizing the parties with the minutes of the court hearing.

Each of these circumstances may give rise to proceedings, since it significantly affects the results of the trial and indicates improper performance of duties and unprofessionalism of the official.

Proceedings procedure

After filing a complaint against a judge with the Qualification Board of Judges, a detailed inspection begins. Every year, the KKS has to deal with thousands of claims from ordinary citizens who seek to somehow influence the guardians of justice, appeal against their unlawful actions and restore their violated rights. Consideration of complaints in the qualification boards of judges implies control by a specialized commission or the issuance of a referral to the chairman of the relevant authority to conduct an on-site inspection.

After considering the claim, the panel analyzes the judge’s activities and raises the question of his future professional suitability. If the official's guilt is proven, he will be suspended from work or fired if there are sufficiently compelling reasons. The most common measure of responsibility that judges are subject to is disciplinary action in the form of a warning.

The most important thing is that the qualification board cannot overturn the decision made by the judge. Even the High Qualification Board of Judges does not have such powers. This body of the judicial community is directly involved in selecting candidates for positions, suspending or terminating their powers, conferring state awards and titles, and bringing them to disciplinary liability. However, the QCC does not have the right to influence the rulings and decisions of judges, make changes or cancel sanctions. A complaint to the Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation implies a detailed study of the activities of an official and his behavior in relation to participants in a court hearing. To appeal a judge's decision, you must appeal to the appellate and cassation authorities.

Algorithm of actions after a conflict

From the first court hearing, you must be extremely attentive to the actions of the judge and monitor the progress of the proceedings. Even formalities that seem insignificant at first glance are of fundamental importance. For example, when submitting additions to a claim, you need to make sure that the document will be attached to the case and will be assigned a new number in the office.

During hearings, it is not prohibited to use recording devices during the hearing. Their use will make it possible to prove the fact of violations, incompetence and mistakes of court employees, and to draw up a detailed complaint. The decision of the qualification board of judges will be based on the evidence provided by the citizen.

The applicant must clearly understand that all incriminating facts that he provides must be objective. Otherwise, the citizen will have to answer to a counterclaim filed by the official. The rights of judges to protect honor, dignity and professional reputation are protected by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

If there are sufficient grounds for filing a complaint with the Qualification Board of Judges of Moscow or any other Russian city, you can begin to file a claim. Moreover, we must not forget about the application procedure and the deadlines for submitting the document. Before sending a complaint to the CCC, it is important to familiarize the chairman of the court with its contents. The claim must be drawn up and sent to the official within five working days from the announcement of the verdict. The complaint should indicate all documents and evidence that were not included in the case, which is a direct violation of the principle of adversarial action between the parties to a legal dispute. If the chairman does not see any violations, an appeal (complaint with a request) is sent to the Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation within five days after receiving the response. Moreover, the claim is made against not only the judge who heard the case, but also the inactive chairman.

What evidence is best to include?

According to the law in Russia, all judges are endowed with immunity, so it is quite difficult to hold them accountable. Therefore, for a complaint against a judge to have the desired effect, there must be irrefutable evidence of the judge’s guilt. To receive them, you need to carefully prepare:

Analyze court materials. Places in the text that raise doubts should be copied;
Read court records carefully. If inconsistencies are identified, appropriate comments should be submitted;
Record the proceedings of the court hearing using a voice recorder. The law allows such audio recordings to be made, and a judge or other officials do not have the right to interfere with the exercise of this right;
Submit a petition requesting video recording of the court hearing. The refusal is legal only in the case of judicial proceedings in cases involving personal or family secrets of citizens.

Important: according to Art. 231 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, if the protocol of the court session does not correspond to the actual circumstances of the trial of the case expressed in the courtroom, a remark can be filed against it within five days.

Comments can be submitted both directly during the meeting and after it. In the latter case, you will need to use the court office. The text of the comment is drawn up in two copies and submitted to the office. The second copy is stamped with a stamp indicating acceptance of the document, indicating the date and signature of the official. It remains with the applicant.

Often it is video and audio recordings that help confirm violations by representatives of the judicial community

Here, for example, is a video after which a judge of the Kurganinsky District Court lost his powers:

And here is a video about a judge from the Saratov region:

The case is completely unique!

Deadline for making a decision

After filing a complaint against a judge with the Qualification Board of Judges, the applicant must wait for a response letter. The time frame for consideration of a claim varies, depending on whether it is subject to satisfaction or whether it will be denied.

In case of refusal, the unaccepted complaint is sent to the competent authorities and officials, of which the applicant is notified. The appeal is considered locally within five working days. If the claim is accepted, the board opens proceedings, after which it is given a month to study the issue, and if there is no need to carry out an inspection, 15 days.

Unlike citizens, officials with the right to legislative initiative have the right to receive a response from the qualification board within three days. If an inspection is required for consideration, the period increases to 20 days.

Consideration of the complaint

Let's look briefly at the application of the complaint itself. After it has been compiled, it should be submitted to the Qualification Board of Judges. This can be done through the same court representative who accepted the claim, or another employee authorized to receive citizens’ appeals.

After filing a complaint, it will be transferred to the Qualification Board of Judges itself, which will consider it at the next hearing . The verification itself consists of studying the case materials, the actions of the judge against which the complaint was filed, as well as their compliance with current standards.

If the complaint is justified, the following penalties may be applied to the judge:

Making a comment;
Making a note about the violation in your personal file;
Removal from business.

Attention

As you can see, you should not expect any layoffs, changes in the course of business, or cancellation of decisions. But this does not mean that an appeal to the Qualification Board of Judges does not make sense. Firstly, it can be used to cancel some of the judge’s actions. Secondly, the warning, although it is not obvious, has a very strong influence on the judges and makes them much more careful in making a decision.

How to properly make a written complaint?

To force a judge to bear responsibility for his actions, it is necessary to correctly write an appeal to the Qualification Board of Judges. The complaint must contain reasonable arguments in favor of the complainant's position. In addition, only an objective assessment of the official’s professionalism can serve as a reason for the intervention of the KKS. When writing a complaint, you need to take into account important nuances:

In the text of the document, it is necessary to refer to sources, that is, regulations, legislation. Moreover, it is advisable to refer to specific articles of laws and pay attention to violations that were committed by the judge.
It is advisable to attach evidence (for example, photographs, videos), testimony of witnesses or other persons to the written appeal.
It is necessary to write a complaint indicating accurate information (personal data, contacts, dates, addresses, place of work, study, etc.). Otherwise, the KCC may refuse to proceed.

By following the basic rules for writing a complaint, there is a maximum likelihood of it being considered and a fair decision being made. Grounds for refusal to consider an application may include threats against representatives of the KKS, the use of swear words, slang, profanity, or the applicant’s illegible handwriting. Consideration of a complaint may be refused if it is related to information about state secrets.

The citizen must prepare three copies of the complaint: the first version will be sent to the judge for review, the second will remain in the applicant’s hands as evidence of registration of the appeal, and the third copy will be sent to the KKS for consideration.

Features of applying to the panel of judges

If you are faced with inappropriate behavior of a judge, then it is very important to correctly draft a complaint to the qualification board. A detailed description of what happened will be the basis for an inspection, so you should take a responsible approach to drawing up a complaint.

In order for the application to be accepted for consideration and the fact of the incident to be verified when writing a complaint, certain requirements must be met:

When describing what happened, reference should be made to a violation of current legislation. Provide the numbers of the violated articles;
Availability of evidence base. Video or audio recordings, as well as witness statements, may be used as evidence confirming inappropriate behavior of a judge;
All information specified in the submitted document must be true. This applies to both the applicant’s personal and contact information and the description of what happened. If it turns out that the judge did not in any way commit the violation that was described in the appeal, then the applicant may be charged under the article “Slander”.
The complaint must be in business style and must not contain obscene language or other insults. The document must also contain no errors.

Compliance with the points described above is an additional guarantee that the complaint will be accepted for consideration, and the judge will be held accountable or deprived of his position.

What not to do

Writing a complaint to a panel of judges against a judge implies compliance with certain rules. In order not to be refused to accept a document, you need to pay attention to a number of points. The most common mistakes when drawing up a claim is incorrect spelling of the name of the authority. Sometimes the name of the KKS is distorted by citizens beyond recognition, and the board refuses to even consider the appeal. Mistakes are often made in the name of the authority in which the judge works and his actions, in their opinion, deserve disciplinary punishment.

Some citizens write a complaint and do not understand what powers the Qualification Board of Judges has. The complaint is drawn up taking into account the competence of the CCJ. For example, this body does not have the right to represent the interests of the applicant or overturn the court decision. Some citizens even apply to bring a representative of justice to criminal liability, but neither the Higher Qualification Board nor the boards in the regions have such powers, so they leave the citizen’s complaint without consideration. If a judge has actually committed criminal acts and there is evidence of his guilt, then only the prosecutor’s office, or rather its investigative committee, can begin criminal proceedings.

The most common mistakes when filing a complaint

Quite often, citizens refuse to turn to qualified lawyers for help in filing a complaint against a judge. Very often this leads to the applicant being refused consideration of the document. In order to avoid this, we will next consider typical mistakes that are made when writing a complaint to the KKS:

Putting forward demands that cannot be satisfied by the qualification board due to lack of authority. Very often, citizens turn to the collegium with a demand to cancel the sentence, although this is not within the powers of the collegium, therefore, before writing a complaint, you should familiarize yourself with what issues the collegium of judges is able to resolve;
Incorrect indication of the name of the organization. Very often, citizens incorrectly interpret the abbreviation KKS. Such mistakes could have been avoided by seeking the help of a lawyer;
Making illegal demands. Very often, citizens demand that a judge who does not comply with the Code of Judicial Ethics be held criminally liable. In this case, the document will be sent to the author, since only the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation can bring the judge to criminal liability. If a judge has committed a serious violation, for example, received a bribe, then you should contact the investigative committee.

The legislative framework

There is nothing difficult in writing a complaint to the KKS against a judge using a sample that can be found in the public domain. The claim is drawn up on the basis of unlawful actions of an official, but, in addition to the explanations and arguments of the applicant, must contain references to the relevant regulations.

The complaint details all violations, as well as violated provisions of laws and by-laws, in particular the Civil Procedure Code, the Code of Administrative Procedure and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. In addition to these laws and regulations, the applicant has the right to refer to other equally important documents, violation of the provisions of which is not permissible. These include:

Code of Judicial Ethics.
Federal Law No. 3132-1 “On the status of judges in the Russian Federation.”
Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 13 of April 14, 2021
Federal Law No. 30 “On the bodies of the judicial community in the Russian Federation.”

The process of considering a claim in the qualification board does not require the involvement of the parties. If the judges need to clarify information or obtain additional information, the QCC sends a corresponding written request. In addition, at the time of registration of the appeal, the applicant is introduced to the responsibility assigned to him, informed about the period for consideration of the complaint by the qualification board of judges, the method of notification of the decision made and the progress of the consideration of the complaint.

Where can you file a complaint?

For a subjective and lawful consideration of the complaint, the interested person has the right to apply:

to the chairman of the court;
to the Qualification Board of Judges;
to the prosecutor's office;
to the President of the country.

Before sending a complaint, you should carefully study the provisions of Federal Law No. 3132-1, Art. 12.1 dated June 26, 1992 and checking with them the stated arguments and arguments for violations, allowing which the judge may be subject to disciplinary liability. If these circumstances are not supported by the law, the complaint has no prospects and will not be satisfied. We should not forget about the provisions of the Code of Judicial Ethics, violation of which may become one of the grounds for appealing the actions of a judge.

How things usually end

According to unofficial data, out of the total volume of claims sent, for every third one a decision is made in favor of the applicant. This suggests that every citizen whose rights were violated due to judicial unprofessionalism has a good chance of proving he is right. In addition, the high effectiveness of applying measures of influence against officials who have tarnished the honor of the judicial title is also noted. In most cases, after considering complaints, qualification boards decide to remove the offender from office and dismiss him.

We cannot discount the fact that many citizens simply do not know about their rights, and therefore are not able to protect their own interests. In order for a complaint to be submitted to a local panel of judges or the HQCC, in some cases it is more advisable to contact an experienced lawyer who has experience in resolving such disputes and appealing against the actions of officials.