Manipulated Justice in Russia: Influence in Prosecutions and Conflict Resolution

Please join us for an event in our Rule of Law speaker series, a presentation by Peter H. Solomon (University of Toronto).

It is now fashionable to portray the administration of justice in the Russian Federation through the prism of the “dual state.” This metaphor suggests that while some criminal and civil cases shows signs of outside and/or inappropriate influence, the vast majority of cases are handled in a normal, routine way, albeit with possible biases. In Peter H. Solomon's view, this perspective is both accurate and useful, but it raises the question of which cases or types of cases fall into the first group and how attempts at influence work in practice. Terms like “political” or “politicized” or “high profile” only beg the question, for they too are murky and have multiple understandings.

In this talk Solomon will start by identifying common characteristics of the process of influencing cases, regarding the instigators, targets, mechanisms, and contingencies, and refer to incidents that have become public knowledge. He will then explore three categories of cases that at least sometimes feature attempts at influence: prosecutions targeting government officials and other high profile persons; prosecutions relating to the regulation of politics (protest, speech); and cases relating to business disputes and predation of business by law enforcement.