The head of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court, Alexander Gusev, resigned

Serious personnel changes continue in the Russian judicial system: before the Supreme Court had time to appoint a new chairman (he is expected to be approved by the Federation Council at a meeting on April 17), it became known that the main judicial “supply man”, responsible for ensuring the work of all the country’s courts, had left. As State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein announced on Tuesday, Alexander Gusev, who headed the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court since 2000, resigned.

The fact that the General Director of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court, Alexander Gusev, wrote a letter of resignation, was announced by the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, on the evening of April 9 in his Telegram channel. The press service of the Judicial Department told Kommersant that they do not have such information. Employees of the department, in private conversations with Kommersant, also admitted that they did not know about the upcoming resignation of the head, although the planned change of the chairman of the Supreme Court of Russia (Vyacheslav Lebedev, who headed it since 1989, died on February 23 at the age of 81) made it possible to expect appropriate personnel decisions . Alexander Gusev was appointed to this post by Vyacheslav Lebedev, and it is logical that after his death he decided to leave, explained one of Kommersant’s interlocutors.

At the same time, the fact of Mr. Gusev’s resignation was confirmed by a Kommersant source close to the judicial system: according to him, the head of the Judicial Department submitted his letter of resignation addressed to him. O. Chairman of the Supreme Court Petr Serkov on Monday, April 8. At the same time, according to Kommersant’s interlocutor, Alexander Gusev already has several proposals to continue working in government agencies.

The Judicial Department is engaged in organizational support for the activities of courts and bodies of the judicial community, and de facto its head is the second person in the judicial system, and the position itself is equivalent to the position of a minister. However, last week nothing seemed to foretell such a development of events: Mr. Gusev made a report at a seminar-meeting of the chairmen of regional councils of judges and proudly reported on the system’s budget, which over the past year grew by 26% – from 244 .3 billion to 307 billion rubles.

According to deputy Khinshtein, Alexander Gusev’s resignation letter should be considered by the Council of Judges in the coming days (as TASS reported on Tuesday evening, citing “sources in the judicial system,” this will happen on April 11). By law, the Director General of the Judicial Department is appointed and dismissed by the Chairman of the Supreme Court with the consent of the Council of Judges.

But for now, the post of Chairman of the Supreme Court remains vacant: as expected, on April 17, the Federation Council will approve Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court Irina Podnosova in this position (the President’s proposal for her appointment was received by the upper house of parliament on April 9). And whether the Supreme Court will wait for the appointment of a new chairman to resolve the personnel issue with the leadership of the Judicial Department, so far none of the officials interviewed by Kommersant can say.

It is also worth noting that the head of the Judicial Department resigned against the backdrop of a number of investigations against his subordinates, which are carried out by the department of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the investigation of crimes committed by law enforcement officials, with operational support from the FSB.

The first to be detained last year, taken to Moscow and arrested by the Basmanny District Court, was the head of the Judicial Department for the Rostov Region, the former chairman of three local courts, Andrei Roshchevsky, who was accused of mediating bribes to the chairman of the Rostov Regional Court, Elena Zolotareva, and her deputy, Tatyana Yurova. In total, according to some sources, up to 20 judges may be involved in this case, which is still under investigation.

At the center of another investigation by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, another subordinate of Mr. Gusev, Kerim Akuev, who at various times headed judicial departments in a number of regions of Russia, including Crimea and the Donetsk People’s Republic, recently found himself. He is accused of mediation in the transfer of bribes for making court decisions and receiving kickbacks for contracts for the repair of Crimean court buildings.

Finally, the Kalininsky District Court of the Tver Region has been considering a criminal case regarding the alleged theft of more than 500 million rubles for several years. budget funds under the guise of paying for translator services in the courts of the capital region. The court has already stopped the criminal prosecution of the ex-head of the judicial department of the Moscow region Valery Kuzmich and his former deputy Evgenia Titova due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and the ex-head of the judicial department for Moscow Vyacheslav Lipezin, his former deputies Lyubov Lopatina and Igor Kudryavtsev can avoid punishment under the same reason as soon as possible. The state prosecution, realizing that this was about to happen, asked the judge to speed up the consideration of the case, the judicial investigation of which has been ongoing since 2020, but it was categorically refused.

Anastasia Kornya, Nikolay Sergeev