AmbassadorQs Meeting with Chief Justice Lebedev

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 002537 AIDAC STATE FOR USAID/E&E AIDAC STATE FOR USAID/DCHA STATE FOR EUR/ACE, EUR/RUS, DRL SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID KJUS PREL PGOV PHUM SOCI RS SUBJECT: AmbassadorQs Meeting with Chief Justice Lebedev Sensitive But Unclassified. Not for Internet Distribution. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- 1.(SBU) Ambassador Beyrle met with Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev of the Russian Federation Supreme Court on September 28. Lebedev welcomed continued cooperation between the U.S. and Russian judiciaries. He looked forward to his next visit to the U.S. and to the likely visit to Russia in 2011 of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. He is acutely aware of the image of the Russian judicial system as reflected in USG human rights reports and press reports, and argued that this image fails to appreciate major changes which have occurred in the Russian judiciary. End Summary. -------------- PRAISE FOR RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIESQ JUDICIARIES -------------- 2.(SBU) Vyacheslav Lebedev, the current Chief Justice of the RF Supreme Court and before that the RSFSR Supreme Court since 1989, greeted us at the CourtQs gleaming headquarters. Lebedev noted that relations between the two countriesQ judiciaries have long been good and have remained good notwithstanding fluctuations in international relations. He recalled his first trip to the U.S. in 1989 and said that he "loves America," including its jazz music. He recalled wistfully his 2005 trip to the U.S., during which he met with nearly all the U.S. Supreme Court Justices, including an ailing Chief Justice Rehnquist. If either the American Bar Association or his "colleagues" from the U.S. Supreme Court were to invite him to the U.S., he would accept, adding that his Court has money for his travel. Lebedev recalled that in the past, there had been even more contact between representatives of the two countriesQ judiciaries than there was at present. USAID noted that its budget in Russia has declined since those days. 3.(SBU) Lebedev referenced the joint invitation extended to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to visit Russia, signed by himself and Chief Justice of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court Anton Ivanov and Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Valeriy Zorkin. (Chief Justice Roberts responded that he would like very much to visit Russia, but his schedule does not permit him to do so before the summer of 2011.) Lebedev said that they had a good program for his visit in mind, which would include the opportunity to visit someplace in regional Russia. 4.(SBU) Lebedev noted, without providing much in the way of specifics, that some issues had become more complicated than was the case in the 1990s. Then, the overriding desire had been to "make the government democratic as quickly as possible, "without much concern for making it "administrative" (he made a top to bottom gesture, perhaps implicitly referencing todayQs "vertical of power"),but the need had indeed arisen for something more practical than merely being "democratic." -------------- CONCERN FOR THE COURTSQ IMAGE -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Lebedev emphasized that he wanted to see "objective accounts" of the Russian court system. It was fine to point out inadequacies where those exist, but too many reports reflect an unawareness of the changes that have occurred in the court system, he said. He took issue with what he called "the human rights report of the U.S. Congress," which he believes is inaccurate in its description of the work of the courts. When the people writing such reports show that they are not even aware of such basic facts as the changes in relative power of judges and prosecutors, for example, such reports lack credibility. He also took issue with press reports which write as if things have not changed, when in fact they have changed greatly, "in part due to our cooperation with our U.S. colleagues." 6.(SBU) Lebedev said, "You often hear, QThe courts are corrupt.Q" He said that if what is meant is that a judge is taking bribes, that needs to be stated. But if corruption is a "nizovoye yavlenie" (a grass-roots, pervasive phenomenon),then it cannot be the case that the legislative and executive branches are "clean" and only the judiciary is corrupt. The important thing for the judiciary, he noted, is to act openly and make its decisions available to the public. Lebedev referenced the increasing availability of court decisions, noting that even if a hearing is closed to the public, as when intimate details of a personQs private life are at issue, the MOSCOW 00002537 002 OF 002 decision itself is public. (Note: A potentially important law on public access to information about the work of the courts was enacted in December 2008 and will require courts, among other things, to place certain information on official websites beginning July 1, 2010; some courts are ahead of this schedule. End Note.) 7.(SBU) Lebedev was asked about the potential for Russian judges travel abroad in light of a 2008 law restricting inter alia judges right to receive compensation for travel. (Note: USAIDQs rule of law program implementation has faced some difficulty of late, believed to be related to some judges interpreting the 2008 law as prohibiting them from participating in programs for which their participation is underwritten by USG-funded assistance Q and there is some speculation that these judges are reacting to signals from Lebedev. End note.) Lebedev responded that his Court has money for travel, and that when Russian judges travel abroad they may pay their own transportation expenses, but might accept hotel expenses from the hosting side; the important thing is that such travel be "na paritetnom osnove" (on an equal footing),perhaps a reference to a restriction in the law forbidding judges from accepting certain types of compensation "solely from foreign governments or international organizations." 8.(SBU) In response to our noting that some Russian officials seem to be afraid of continued close cooperation with Americans, and reminded that the role of NGOs was sometimes depicted very negatively in Russia, Lebedev responded that there was nothing for anyone to be afraid of. While some old-fashioned NGOs may still take the attitude of "waiting for someone to come for them at four oQclock in the morning," that attitude isnQt typical, Lebedev said, and NGOs have a role to play in supporting the work of the courts. -------------- COMMENT: -------------- 9.(SBU) The Supreme Court has often been regarded as lagging on reforms. Contacts have told post that Lebedev, having headed the court for 20 years, hopes nonetheless to be remembered as having been an advocate for judicial prerogatives and something of a progressive on human rights issues. He told several stories to burnish his credentials along these lines, including recalling how he stood up for the right to habeas corpus in the early 1990Qs and rebuffed a recent attempt by Finance Minister Kudrin to cut back funding for the courts, which, Lebedev claimed, would have undermined judicial independence. Lebedev has survived longer than most high-ranking government officials, and, it seems to us, would like to end his career with positive recognition from his foreign peers and the public. We hope that this desire for such a legacy will lead him to remove any obstacles to further judge participation in USG rule of law programs. Continued USG engagement with Russian courts through direct judiciary-to-judiciary contacts, and through carefully targeted programs managed by USAID, LES, Open World, and the Russian Foundation for Economic Advancement and Rule of Law, can capitalize on LebedevQs desire for recognition and help the courts continue on their long road of evolution in a positive direction. BEYRLE