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Let’s Say “No” to the Erosion of the Constitution

Details: Law

Let’s Say “No” to the Erosion of the Constitution

Details: 28 July 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

Russia’s leading legal experts have published an open address in which they detail the threats to the country’s constitutional order. IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a co-signatory of the address, emphasizes that, for the lawyers, to point out the dangers of the current situation is a professional, civic, and human duty.

Russia: Twenty Years of Private Notaries

Details: Law

Russia: Twenty Years of Private Notaries

Details: 22 April 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

In April 1993, the first private notary license was issued in the Russian Federation. After decades of state monopoly, the country acquired a private practice notary system. According to IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent legal expert, this reform was the most successful of all the reforms carried out in Russia in the last twenty years.

Again, Those Annoying Human Rights

Details: Law

Again, Those Annoying Human Rights

Details: 08 April 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

At Vladimir Putin’s request, Russian lawmakers are toughening the rules on residency registration and criminal liability for violating them. According to IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal scholar, the new amendments would de facto annul the priority of rights over obligations that is enshrined in the Russian Constitution.

Sergei Magnitsky Will Be Convicted Posthumously

Details: Law

Sergei Magnitsky Will Be Convicted Posthumously

Details: 03 April 2013; Alexander Podrabinek

On April 5, the Tverskoy District Court in Moscow will resume hearings in the trial of Sergei Magnitsky. The prisoner’s box in the courtroom is empty—Magnitsky died in Matrosskaya Tishina prison in 2009. Author and analyst Alexander Podrabinek affirms that this trial, as well as being immoral and absurd, is also illegal.

Details: Law

Lèse-majesté

Details: 12 March 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

The Russian State Duma is considering Kremlin-sponsored amendments to the Civil Code that concern the “protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.” According to IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal expert, these proposals threaten to introduce in Russia the practice of public book-burning once perfected in the Third Reich.

Sacrificial Offering à la Homo Sovieticus

Details: Law

Sacrificial Offering à la Homo Sovieticus

Details: 31 January 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

The Kremlin’s decision to retaliate against Russian orphans after the passage of the U.S. Magnitsky Act was a continuation of Soviet traditions. IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal expert, notes that the entire history of the USSR was marked by a hypocritical “care for children.”

The Fight Against Corruption as a New Year’s Present

Details: Law

The Fight Against Corruption as a New Year’s Present

Details: 26 December 2012; Ekaterina Mishina

On January 1, a new federal law designed to establish oversight over the expenditures of public officials and reduce the scope of corruption takes effect in Russia. IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal expert, warns against a rush to judgment and suggests that the effectiveness of the anti-corruption law can only be measured by its future enforcement.

The Magnitsky Sanctions in Canada

Details: Law

The Magnitsky Sanctions in Canada

Details: 13 December 2012; Vladimir Kara-Murza

The passage of the Magnitsky Act in the United States was not the end, but the beginning of the global campaign to ban human rights abusers from traveling to the West and using its financial systems. This week, the Canadian Parliament turned its attention to this issue, hearing the testimony from IMR Senior Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza and Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder.

Reforming the Police

Details: Law

Reforming the Police

Details: 16 October 2012; Ekaterina Mishina

On November 17th, 2012 the Institute of Modern Russian will hold a round table, entitled "No Boundaries in Russian Government Corruption," as a part of the 44th Annual Conference of the Association of the Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). Today, we present an abridged version of the report by Sasha de Vogel, Columbia University MA Student, one of the three round table participants.

The Return of Stalinist “Justice”

Details: Law

The Return of Stalinist “Justice”

Details: 06 October 2012; Vladimir Kara-Murza

The new amendments to the Russian Penal Code, which have already passed the first reading in the State Duma, significantly expand the definition of “high treason” and open the way for mass prosecutions of Kremlin opponents. According to IMR Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza, these changes could herald a return to “Stalinist” justice in Russia.

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