Gao Yifei, Lv Yang

(№.1,2015)

Abstract:The old Russian jury system which was established in 1864 was replaced by the people’s assessor system in 1917. The current jury system which was implemented in 1993 has spanned over 20 years. Under the system, the judge leads the criminal trial while the jury can question witnesses, address convictions and some sentencing issues, give unanimous verdicts and a majority vote, and can appeal acquittals. Russia’s jury system today faces the problem of the difficult formation of a jury, a high rate of acquittals, and inefficient jury trials. The system will evolve into a Russifed jury system with a smaller range of cases tried by the jury, more power for professional judges, and a wider range of application for special procedures.

Keywords:Russia; jury; adversarial trial(s); special procedure(s)