Russia's Supreme Court has proposed reforms to its jury system that legal experts say would strengthen judicial control over verdicts and reduce protections against conviction.
The proposals would permit presiding judges to "clarify" questions while jurors deliberate, according to Euronews. The reforms would also shrink jury panels from six or eight members to four.
Lawyers argue these changes undermine jury independence. The concern centers on data showing juries acquit defendants at roughly 60 times the rate of judges in non-jury trials, Euronews reports. That disparity suggests juries function as a check on state prosecutions, a role the proposed reforms would weaken.
The "clarification" power gives judges authority to intervene during jury deliberations, potentially steering outcomes toward conviction. Smaller panels reduce the threshold for jurors to resist pressure, either from judges or from fellow panel members.
Russia introduced jury trials in limited form in the 1990s, after the Soviet period ended. They have since become a rare mechanism by which defendants escape conviction in a legal system where judges convicted 99.6 percent of defendants in 2022, according to available court data. The jury acquittal rate has fluctuated but remains substantially higher than conviction rates in bench trials.
The Supreme Court proposals have drawn criticism from legal organizations and defense lawyers. No timeline for implementation has been announced in the available reporting.
The changes reflect tension between Russia's judicial independence rhetoric and the operational reality of courts heavily influenced by state priorities. Jury trials, even in their current limited scope, represent a procedural space where verdicts diverge from prosecutorial outcomes. The proposed reforms would narrow that space.