An expanded meeting of judges of courts of general jurisdiction was organized to sum up the results of activities in 2021, it was held via videoconference. The President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic took part in the meeting. In addition to the chairmen of the courts, heads of state authorities and administration, a number of ministries and departments were invited to the conversation. The moderator of the event and the main speaker is the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the PMR Adrian Penkovsky. He said that statistical data and their analysis are posted on the website of the Supreme Court, and announced some figures that demonstrate the level of stability of court decisions.
Adrian Penkovsky said that 17791 cases were received by the courts of the republic during 2021 (15.5% more than in 2020). Taking into consideration the balances, 19349 cases were in production, 17794 cases were completed. Almost three million state duties were collected to the state revenue.
The number of court orders has grown significantly from 9646 in 2020 to 11870 in 2021. The growth is associated with the introduction of additions to the Civil Procedure Code. We are talking about the issuance of court orders to recover debts for payment for housing and utilities, under a loan agreement, as well as payments and contributions from members of a homeowners association and a housing and construction cooperative. The speaker outlined the general structure of cases, noting that the largest percentage – 44% – is the collection of payments for housing and utilities.
Speaking about the work of the cassation instances, Adrian Penkovsky emphasized that every third complaint received is justified.
The speaker indicated that the epidemiological situation in the republic and the introduced restrictive measures had an impact on the activities of the courts. The speaker said that 1287 criminal cases in 2021 were considered. 62.4% - with the full consent of the defendant with the charges. 1164 guilty verdicts convicted 1300 people. A third of criminal cases are related to crimes against property, 14.3% - to drug trafficking, 12.4% - crimes against life and health. Six criminal cases – are tax evasion, 25 cases – corruption (guilty verdicts on 22 of them).
622 convicts were sentenced to real imprisonment, 303 were suspended in the reporting period. 159 people were sentenced to compulsory labor, 75 to corrective labor, 154 convicts were fined.
The speaker focused on the topic of parole. 85 materials on parole were considered in 2021, (57 were considered a year earlier).
The number of considered cases of administrative offenses decreased by 20%, compared to the previous year and amounted to 7780 cases. The amount of fines imposed amounted to almost five million rubles.
The PMR Supreme Court Chairman paid attention in his report to the measures taken to improve the quality and efficiency of justice. He reported on the ongoing seminars and said that 44 judges of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic underwent additional training at the Russian State University of Justice in 2021. There is an agreement on advanced training at this site in 2022 for another 29 judges. The requirements for candidates for the position of a judge have been increased. New tickets have been approved for the exam, which must be passed to occupy the position of a judge of a city (district) court. The version of the job description of the secretary of court sessions has been updated: the established requirement is the presence of a higher legal education. Increased attention is paid to compliance with the norms of judicial ethics. Seven judges were brought to disciplinary responsibility during the year.
The participants exchanged views on a number of issues during the discussion part of the meeting. Prosecutor of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Anatoly Guretsky spoke on some aspects. He paid attention to the topic of consideration of citizens' appeals.
The President summing up the topic of ensuring the independence of the judiciary emphasized that illegal influence and any kind of pressure on judges is unacceptable. Vadim Krasnoselsky touched upon the issue of protecting judges. He spoke about the independence of judicial activities from politics, emphasizing the priority of the interests of Pridnestrovian citizens. In addition, Vadim Krasnoselsky called for more active use of the right of legislative initiative, improving the legal framework, recalling that any contradiction, conflict, gap, discrepancy should be interpreted in favor of the citizen.
The PMR President paid attention to such topics as the technical support of the judicial process, advanced training of judges and court employees, especially when considering cases in such areas as the economy, taxation, malfeasance, and drug trafficking. The President drew attention to the high workload of judges in civil cases: the average figure was 333.6 cases at the end of 2021, the largest in Grigoriopol and Rybnitsa - 554 and 537, respectively. Vadim Krasnoselsky emphasized that the increased workload should not adversely affect the quality of the consideration of cases. The PMR President spoke about staff turnover among court employees. The relatively low wages of specialists are noted. Vadim Krasnoselsky instructed to study the issue of the possibility of increasing the level of the material incentives.
The work of courts of general jurisdiction was recognized by the Head of State according to the results of 2021 in general as satisfactory.
