Subject: [CivilSoc] 29 Russian Judges Address Putin Over Colleague's Removal
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Tue May 16 2000 - 22:02:16 EDT
Center for Civil Society International has received important
information from the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights on the case of
Arbitration Court Judge Tatyana Loktyonova, who has been subject to
ongoing official pressure by Vladivostok Governor Yevgeny
Nazdratenko.
Last fall, the Governor increased his pressure on the Judge because
of a decision made by the Arbitration Court that she chairs. Because
the bankruptcy decision went against the Governor-backed management
team of the shipping company Vostoktransflot, the Governor began
campaigning for the Judge's removal. His campaign has culminated with
an application to have her removed, as described in the background
material below (source unfortunately not certain, possibly LCHR).
Following this material is a translated copy of the letter 29
Primoriye judges have sent to President Putin.
Those interested in further details concerning this case should
contact:
Lisa J. Laplante
Protection Fellow
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
333 Seventh Ave., 13th floor
New York, NY 10001-5004
phone: 212-845-5295
email: laplantel@lchr.org
JUDGES IN PRIMORSKYI KRAI ADDRESS PUTIN IN SUPPORT OF TATYANA
LOKTIONOVA
The confrontation of the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court and the
local executive authorities reached its apogee. Today, 18 April, the
Supreme Qualifying Bar Association of the Russian Federation is
having a meeting in Moscow to review the report submitted by Governor
Evgenyi NAZDRATENKO requiring termination of powers granted to
Tatyana LOKTIONOVA, Chairman of the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh
Court.
The last-week issue of Izvestiya newspaper states that Mrs.
Loktionova currently staying in Moscow has gone on a hunger-strike to
attract attention of the federal authorities to the situation in the
region. Her colleagues have also declared their support of her
action.
On 14 April a meeting in the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court convened
29 of the total 37 judges working in the Court (3 of those absent
were sick and 5 on vacation). The meeting unanimously took a
resolution to apply the Supreme Qualifying Bar Association of the
Russian Federation with the requirement to take account of the
opinion of the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court judges when
considering termination of powers granted to Tatyana Loktionova,
Chairman of the Court, her conformity to the Chairman's position, and
trust of the court employees to the Chairman, and to dismiss the
Governor's report.
The Primorskyi Arbitrazh judges have also addressed President Putin.
Below is the text of their address:
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,
We, the employees of the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court, are
addressing you as a guarantor of law and order on the territory of
the Russian Federation, including its outskirts. Our address is
dictated by the deepest concern with the future of the Primorskyi
Krai Arbitrazh Court and its Chairman, and on the large scale, with
the abidance by the law and order principles and constitutional
provisions in administration of the law in Russia.
For more than a year the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court and its
Chairman have been enduring discredit by Governor NAZDRATENKO. The
culmination point of this large-scale campaign was Governor
Nazdratenko's address to the Supreme Qualifying Bar Association of
the Russian Federation, requiring termination of powers granted to
Tatyana Loktionova, Chairman of the Primorskyi Krai Arbitrazh Court.
The date of his application review is scheduled for 18 April 2000.
Our concern is aggravated by the fact that all our appeals to the
institutions of legal protection, including the General Prosecutor's
of the Russian Federation, of the court discredit campaign deployed
by the Krai authorities, did not yield any results.
Being a judicial authority, we do take participation in the
Governor-s political games. We, once again, would like to draw your
attention to the processes of pressing by the leaders of local
governments in the Russian Federation, including Primorye, upon
undesirable judicial power. We also hope that the doctrine of law
dictatorship proclaimed in Russia, will be realized by its President,
that is by you.
The situation with the judicial authority in the Primorskyi Krai,
compels us, the judges, to take an extreme measure, that is go on a
hunger-strike, in remonstrance against the governor's policy of
undermining the constitutional principles of independent judicial
power. None of the employees will stop working.
Signed by 29 judges of the Arbitrazh Court.
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