Cassation and Supervision in Russian Courts

In Russia, cassation is a review of a judgment that has already entered into force, after the appeal stage is complete. It checks only whether the lower courts applied the law correctly and followed procedure; new evidence is not examined. A case may pass through two levels of cassation, and the last step, supervisory review, belongs to the Presidium of the Supreme Court.

The system was reshaped in 2019. Separate cassation and appellate courts of general jurisdiction were created, and every party gained a right to have the case heard in the first cassation court rather than filtered by a single judge.

The Ladder of Review

A typical civil or criminal case climbs these steps. Each level acts only after the previous one.

1. First instance: a district court or a regional court.
2. Appeal: the regional court for district cases, or an appellate court of general jurisdiction for regional-level cases.
3. First cassation: one of the nine cassation courts of general jurisdiction, organised by territorial districts.
4. Second cassation: a judicial collegium of the Supreme Court.
5. Supervision: the Presidium of the Supreme Court.

The Separate Commercial Track

Commercial disputes go from the arbitration court of a region to an appellate arbitration court, then to the arbitration court of the district, and then to the Economic Collegium of the Supreme Court.

District arbitration courts check the application of law in an open hearing, and their rulings take effect immediately.

What Justifies Reversal

The cassation court looks for substantial violations of substantive or procedural law that affected the outcome. Typical grounds include incorrect interpretation of a statute, failure to notify a party of the hearing, and conclusions that contradict the evidence in the file.

In criminal cases, a review that would worsen the convicted person's position is allowed only within one year after the verdict took effect, as set by Article 401.6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Reviews in favour of the convicted person have no such limit when grounds exist.

Filing Periods

Missing the deadline is the most common reason a complaint is returned unread. A missed period can be restored only for valid reasons proved with documents.

The period runs from the day the appellate decision takes effect, not from the day the party receives a copy.

Review at the Supreme Court

At the second cassation level a single judge first reads the complaint and decides whether to pass it to the collegium. Most complaints stop here. When the collegium does hear a case, its ruling often shapes practice for lower courts.

Supervisory review by the Presidium is exceptional. It covers cases where a judgment violates fundamental rights, the rights of an indefinite group of people, or uniformity of court practice.

What Experience Shows

A cassation complaint must be written for a reader who will not re-hear the case. It needs a short statement of facts, a precise list of violations with references to pages of the case file, and an explanation of how each violation changed the result. Complaints that repeat appeal arguments about evidence are usually rejected.

Suspension of enforcement can be requested together with the complaint. Without it, the judgment continues to be executed while cassation is pending.

Planning Review From Abroad

A party living outside Russia can file cassation through counsel under a power of attorney. The documents must include certified copies of all lower court acts. Attorney Elena Petrova reviews judgments for clients in California, assesses whether cassation grounds exist and prepares the complaint within the statutory period.

The main channel of communication with the attorney is email: attorneypetrova1@gmail.com.