The existing judicial system of the Russian Federation was formed and is being developed as a result of a judicial reform carried out in Russia from the beginning of the 90s with the purpose to create and maintain the judicial power in the state mechanism as an independent branch of power, free from political and ideological bias, independent in its activities from the executive and legislative branches of power. Independent, competent law court is an important component of a democratic state. In the area of justice, special attention is given to implementation of the principle of rule of law, in particular, independence of judges, access to justice and right to fair trial.
The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 became the main legal basis for the introduction of the judicial reform. For the ?rst time the Constitution contained a Chapter “Judicial Power” according to which the state power in the Russian Federation should be exercised on the basis of its division into legislative, executive and judicial powers, and all these branches of power should be independent. The structure of the judicial system of the Russian Federation and the sphere of activities of its various parts are determined by the Constitution and federal constitutional laws (Chapter 7 Article 118 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).
According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 118) only the courts can enforce justice in the Russian Federation. Judicial power enforces justice by means of constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings. It is forbidden to establish extraordinary courts.
The Federal Constitutional Law on Judicial System of the Russian Federation was adopted in late 1996 and enacted on the 1st of January 1997. Along with the Constitution of Russia, the Law is the basis of legal regulation, organization and activity of all judicial bodies in the country. All other federal constitutional and federal laws in the area of judicial organization comply with this Federal Constitutional Law. Judicial system in Russia is a combination of judicial bodies that exercise functions of the judiciary and share the same tasks and methods of work.
The judicial power in Russia is exercised by the Constitutional Court of Russia, general jurisdiction courts and arbitration courts by means of constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal judicial proceedings. Courts, in turn, are divided into federal courts and courts of the constituent entities of Russia.
Under the constitution all trials in all law courts are open (the hearing of a case can be in camera in cases provided by the federal law) and conducted on an adversarial and equal basis.