A supervisory appeal in a criminal case to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is a way to appeal and review a court decision (sentence, ruling, resolution) that has entered into force. The highest court examines exclusively the legality of a judicial act. In fact, supervision is the last opportunity to change anything in the outcome of a criminal case. If it doesn’t help, only the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will remain.
In some cases, you can appeal to the Constitutional Court or consider the possibility of reviewing the case based on newly discovered (new) circumstances. However, in these situations, completely different grounds will appear, and we will be talking about new trials, and not about the revision of already issued judicial acts.
Grounds for canceling or changing the appealed decision in the supervisory order:
- Serious violations of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and (or) the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, which influenced the outcome of the consideration of the criminal case.
- The emergence of information that indicates a failure to fulfill the terms and obligations of a pre-trial agreement by the person with whom such a cooperation agreement was concluded.
In 2021 (no later than October), appeal and cassation courts will begin to operate in the system of courts of general jurisdiction. This circumstance will affect the procedure for appealing court decisions in criminal cases. The changes will affect supervision to a lesser extent. True, to get to this authority you will have to go a slightly different path than it was before and is still the case now.
Rules for filing a supervisory complaint
Trials in administrative, civil or criminal cases must be based on an analysis of all evidence collected by the investigator and the defense. However, the decision made does not always satisfy the parties to the case and is seen by them as fair. It is especially important to make the right decision in a criminal case, since this procedure of investigation concerns serious crimes against the health and safety of people.
In case of disagreement with the decision of the court of first instance (city or district), the participants in the case have the right to appeal its verdict within the framework of appeal and cassation. If these methods of appeal do not produce the desired results, the last remaining way to overturn the court decision is to file a supervisory appeal with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
An important feature of such a complaint is that there are no time limits for filing it. It is possible to cancel a court decision even after it has entered into force.
Procedure, conditions and deadline for filing a complaint
The procedure for filing a supervisory appeal to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is regulated by Articles 375, 391.1 and 391.2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Time limits for filing such a complaint are established only for administrative and arbitration cases (within 3 months after the verdict by the court of first instance), as well as civil cases (within 6 months). No such restrictions have been established for a supervisory complaint in a criminal case.
The period for responding to a complaint is 30 days. During this time, the court must consider the citizen’s appeal and issue a refusal or order to initiate supervisory proceedings.
The law defines the following conditions for filing a complaint with the Supreme Court in a criminal case:
- For decisions of the courts of first instance of a region, region or district, if they were filed with the Supreme Court as part of an appeal.
- For decisions on military matters in the courts of first instance, only if the complaint concerns a criminal case.
- Provided that the decisions of the Appellate, Military and Judicial Collegiums have already been considered as part of the appeal.
- For decisions of the Judicial and Military Collegiums, which were previously considered as part of cassation appeals.
- According to decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Court.
Decisions of district courts that have been appealed in the appellate and cassation procedures are not subject to supervisory appeal to the Supreme Court.
The procedure for sending complaints to the RF Armed Forces involves the following stages:
- Drawing up a complaint and collecting the necessary documents.
- Its submission to the court office in two copies. One of them will be returned to the applicant with a note that the complaint has been registered.
The complaint can be sent by registered mail, with notification of its receipt.
The court will consider the supervisory appeal within 30 days, after which it will inform the applicant of its decision.
What it is
A supervisory appeal has the main purpose of checking the announced verdict for compliance with regulatory requirements. The following have the right to submit a petition for review of judicial decisions:
- Participants in the process who were victims, convicted, acquitted or civil plaintiffs.
- General prosecutor, prosecutor of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
- Other citizens whose interests and rights are affected by the contested judicial act.
The petition can be sent either personally or through a representative using a notarized power of attorney. Since 2021, it is possible to send a document by mail or through an electronic communication channel.
The act of the previous judicial body can be reviewed for the following reasons:
- Determination by the court considering the complaint by way of supervision of significant violations of the norms of the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, which influenced the outcome of the consideration of the case (for example, when justifying the verdict with inadmissible evidence).
- Identification of facts indicating a person’s non-compliance with obligations or conditions taken into account in a pre-trial agreement.
The listed grounds give the supervisory authority the right to satisfy the applicant’s complaint, and the contested decision to cancel or change.
The supervisory court is authorized to consider the case only within the scope of the complaint. According to the general rules, after a review of the sentence on a supervisory petition, the position of the complaining convict cannot be subject to worsening (for example, a severe punishment cannot be imposed on a convict asking for a more lenient measure). The exception is a change in the sentence or decision of the court of first instance, initiated on the basis of a complaint from the victim or the prosecutor.
Rules for filing a complaint in a criminal case
The text of the supervisory appeal to the Supreme Court must indicate:
- Court data.
- Applicant details (full name, registration and residence address, contact phone number).
- Information about decisions of lower courts that the applicant wants to challenge.
- Request for their cancellation. It must be justified with arguments and references to the law.
- List of attached documents.
- Date and signature of the applicant.
The most important part of the complaint is a description of the essence of the case and the violations committed by the lower courts when considering it. It is this part of the application that the judges of the RF Supreme Court will consider to make a decision to cancel the case or deny this to the applicant. Therefore, it is important not only to describe the circumstances of the case in detail and clearly, but also to support the arguments with documents. Mandatory documents must include:
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- Notarized decisions, resolutions and rulings of the court of first instance.
- These are the same documents of the cassation and appeal courts.
- Decisions of supervisory authorities of lower authorities.
This list is not exhaustive. Among the documentation for a supervisory complaint in a criminal case, you can also provide other documents about the applicant himself and his life situation to the Supreme Court - certificates of disability, awards, etc.
Often, a supervisory complaint is filed by persons serving a sentence as part of a sentence of a lower authority. To handle the case, they often hire professional lawyers who help them draw up a complaint and submit it to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Applications
It is imperative to attach copies of all decisions that are already available on a particular case. Each act must be certified at the place of issue. In addition, you can add other documents, such as a power of attorney for representation, a lawyer's order, or a petition for certiorari.
You can obtain a copy from the court by applying there with the appropriate application. Usually, in order to initiate an inspection according to the rules of supervision, you need to collect a complete package of documentation showing the progress of the case at all possible stages - a verdict, an appeal or cassation ruling, a cassation ruling.
Important! If, after the verdict has been approved, information becomes known that could influence the final conclusion of the servants of Themis, proceedings are ordered based on new and newly discovered circumstances.
Who has the right to file a supervisory appeal to the Supreme Court?
Persons who have the right to file such a complaint in specific circumstances are determined by Article 412.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. These include:
- Participants in the trial: the victim, the convicted and the acquitted.
- Other persons whose interests were infringed by a court decision.
- Representatives of citizens who cannot independently participate in court proceedings (due to illness, disability or being in closed correctional institutions). Since such persons themselves cannot appear at the court hearing, they have the right to issue a power of attorney in the name of their representative.
Citizens whose interests were not considered in the judicial process of lower authorities cannot file a supervisory complaint with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Features of the procedure
The complete procedure includes several independent stages. The measures taken are not limited to the study and analysis of submitted documents. In practice, a more thorough check is carried out. Stages provided for by criminal procedure legislation:
- Submission of papers.
- Reception and registration of correspondence.
- Examination for return without consideration.
- Transfer of the legal statement to a specific judge, who is obliged to independently check whether there are grounds for a review. At this stage, the necessary materials are requested from lower courts, and the issue of transferring the application to the Presidium is also decided.
- If the appointed judge nevertheless comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to further move the petition, the papers are sent to the Presidium.
- Schedule a meeting, invite the prosecutor and the complainant.
- Making the final decision. It is possible to satisfy the request or refuse to satisfy the demands made.
Question:
What is considered grounds for returning documents without consideration?
Answer:
The reason for this may be the non-compliance of the legal document with existing requirements regarding content and design, submission of an appeal by an unauthorized entity, receipt of feedback, or an attempt to appeal acts that are not subject to supervisory appeal.
Time limits for consideration of supervisory complaints
Supervisory complaints in the Supreme Court are not always considered within a month. There are the following nuances for considering submitted applications:
- A period of 1 month is established for the consideration of complaints, the analysis of which does not require requesting case materials from a lower court.
- If such a request is submitted, the case is considered within 2 months from the date of registration of the complaint in the office of the Supreme Court. Please note that the time for making a request and receiving a response to it is not included in this period.
In practice, consideration of a complaint, taking into account the time required to request documents, often lasts up to 3 months.
Based on its results, the Supreme Court makes a decision, which immediately comes into force.
Cancellation of the current verdict with worsening conditions for the accused
According to the provisions of the law, the following categories of persons are vested with the right to send appeals to the supervisory authority:
- victim;
- accused;
- prosecutor.
If the appeal is filed by the accused, then the deterioration of previously existing conditions is not allowed. Otherwise, it is possible to adopt any of the decisions that comply with the current legislation, even if it provides for more stringent penalties for the accused person.
Attention! The Collegium of the Supreme Court is authorized to make decisions only within the framework of an appeal.
Capabilities of the Supreme Court to consider supervisory complaints
The actions of the court and its powers when considering complaints are strictly limited by Russian legislation. The list of possible court actions includes:
- Leave the previous court decision unchanged without satisfying the complaint.
- Cancel the previous court verdict.
- Cancel the verdict and send the case materials for a new trial to the court of first instance.
- Cancel the decision on the appeal and send the case to the same court for reconsideration.
- Cancel the decision on the cassation appeal and send the case for a new consideration to the same authority.
- Cancel all previous decisions and resolutions and send the case to the prosecutor's office.
- Make changes to the decisions made, but do not cancel them completely.
- Do not consider the complaint.
The Supreme Court has the right to make the last decision only if there are compelling reasons for this: violations of the law when filing a complaint, its incorrect preparation, filing a complaint by a person who does not have the right to do so, as well as its withdrawal by the applicant himself.
The essence of checking the case materials on a supervisory complaint is to assess the legality and compliance with procedural requirements for the consideration of this case.
Payment of state duty
In order for the complaint to be considered, you must pay a state fee. If this instruction is ignored, the papers will simply not be processed. An individual is obliged to transfer 300 rubles to the budget, a legal entity – 6,000 rubles (clause 4, clause 1, article 333.19 of the Tax Code). Government agencies do not pay this fee, and, therefore, prosecutors are exempt from this obligation.
There are other categories that do not have to pay for revision. These include Heroes of the USSR, disabled people, WWII veterans, Heroes of the Russian Federation and other beneficiaries. Current information and an online calculator for calculations are available here.
