Differentiation of Proceedings in a Court of Cassation: Problems and Prospects

In connection with the creation of cassation courts of general jurisdiction, the procedural form of the proceedings at the cassation court has lost its unified character. Thus, in accordance with Federal Law No. 361-FZ of 11 October 2018 "On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation", the following types of proceedings are provided in the court of cassation: (1) depending on the number of cassation instances, cassation proceedings can be distinguished that are represented by two cassation instances (the Judicial Chamber on Criminal Cases of the District Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction and the Judicial Chamber on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) and by one cassation instance (the Judicial Chamber on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation); (2) depending on the procedure for filing cassation appeals (applications), proceedings at the cassation court are distinguished in which cassation appeals (applications) are filed through the court of first instance or directly to the cassation court; (3) depending on the presence of preliminary examination of cassation appeals (applications) during the proceeding in a specific cassation court, "complete cassation" and "ordinary cassation" are distinguished. It is noted that the consolidation of a differentiated procedure of proceedings in a cassation court does not always ensure the accessibility of the right to appeal and complicates its implementation for an ordinary citizen. It is substantiated that the law for cassation appeals could provide for an alternative method of filing them. In addition, it seems that in the conditions of the growing digitalization of criminal proceedings it would be possible to provide (as an alternative to the paper form) the filing of cassation appeals in electronic form through websites of courts of first or cassation instances.

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