 “I
have come to the conclusion that judicial reform has never been a state concern.
It was rather a private business. Without payment and expecting no honors, a
group of independent experts at the Supreme Council wrote the “Concept of
Judicial Reform”. The introduction of habeas corpus, jury trials and the
training of lawyers were also the result of their work. The President noticed
this for the first time during the meeting with members of the Judicial Reform
Council on March 23, 1995. But in spite of the fact that the President praised
that work to high heaven, this, in fact, prevented our work. I believe Gogol
wrote an interesting phrase about a Russian policeman whose hand was such that
whatever he touched, it broke into pieces. I think we are involved in the same
plot: attention to our work turned out to be ruinous, even though, it was
probably made with the best of intentions.
I continue to feel grateful to the Russian President for
being very patient. I can’t remember one case when he rejected any of the
proposals or refused to sign a draft law developed by our Department. I suppose
again that since judicial reform was not a governmental concern all the problems
were solved privately, through personal contacts...
At a certain stage our work exceeded the level of a
department. The State Legal Directorate authority who had not welcomed our work
took steps to end it. A visit of one of the members of the Judicial Reform
Council to the President on March 23, 1995, at a time when the President seemed
to have realized the importance of our work, only added fuel to the fire and
things very reminiscent of this Russian proverb began to happen: It pleases the
Tsar but angers his huntsman... On April 21, that is three weeks later, the Head
of the Presidential Administration, Filatov issued an order dissolving our
department.
Thus, an attempt to make judicial reform a state concern
rather than a personal one was a failure. I also believe that the Presidential
Administration lost people possessing a unique “know-how” and I still cannot
understand why...”
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