MOSCOW Russia must rid its justice system of serious flaws that have driven thousands of its citizens abroad in search of justice, the president said Tuesday.
Feeling let down or cheated by a domestic court system tainted by corruption and political influence, many Russians have turned to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France an embarrassment for leaders seeking to remake Russia as a successful and self-sufficient country after years of post-Soviet struggles.
"The Strasbourg court, and any international court, with all due respect, cannot and must not take the place of the Russian court system," President Dmitry Medvedev said at a congress of Russian judges. "The justice system must be effective enough to bring appeals to international courts to a minimum."
Medvedev, a former lawyer and law professor, has repeatedly called for strengthening the rule of law in Russia a goal Kremlin critics and Western governments say is crucial to the country's future stability and success.
He has also pledged to combat rampant official corruption. But there have been few signs of progress since he took over the presidency from Vladimir Putin in May, and his remarks were longer on acknowledgment of serious problems than on potential solutions.
Medvedev lamented the severely insufficient enforcement of court decisions, saying only about half of the rulings made by Russian courts are implemented. On that front, he said, "Radical changes for the better have yet to occur."
Russians have filed about 46,000 complaints with the European Court of Human Rights since 1998, accounting for one-fifth of the court's cases, a Moscow-based think tank reported in June. Most concern noncompliance with Russian court rulings, the report said.
But the Kremlin has been irked by the dozens of verdicts the Strasbourg court has reached against Russia in cases concerning alleged abuses in war-scarred Chechnya.
Russia's court system has also been tarnished by the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose trial on fraud and tax evasion charges was widely seen as part of a Kremlin-driven campaign to punish the oil tycoon for perceived challenges and increase state control over the oil industry.
Judicial experts say that apart from such high-profile cases, decisions at courts at all levels across the country are subject to pressure from local authorities and influential figures. Medvedev said courts must be independent and judges protected from pressure.
He spoke angrily about a shooting last month that wounded the top judge in Russia's Samara region. Justice advocates say increasing security for judges would make them less vulnerable to bribery, threats and pressure.
Medvedev also told the judges that Russians' trust in the country's courts remains low and that public access to information must be improved. Among other ideas, he said court decisions must be posted on the Internet and be easily accessible.
