JOURNAL/CFP- Military Justice in Russia and the CIS, PIPSS.org
Posted by: Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies
<kozlowsk@club-internet.fr>
The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies, vol. 8, June 2008
An electronic journal of social sciences
www.pipss.org
In Russia, as in the ex-USSR in general, judiciary reform has
concerned itself very little with the subject of military justice, a
domain at the crossroads of several disciplines: military history,
political history, the history of criminality and of criminal justice.
Yet whereas these branches have expanded in recent years, military
justice has not been sufficiently dealt with, in particular by the
social sciences.
The reform of military justice is of major importance in the creation
of a state under the rule of law: an independent and impartial
judiciary system operating without outside interference or pressure is
vital for a democratic state.
The aim of this issue is therefore to assess the mutations taking
place in this domain in Russia and in other CIS republics.
The first step in the assessment of systems of military justice in
Russia and the CIS is a study of the components of these systems – the
laws that define and prohibit certain behaviours and criminal
procedures, the institutions and authorities responsible for enforcing
the law. At the same time, we must assess the crimes that are judged
and the changes in the structure of criminality. The principles
according to which people are judged depend on several variables:
national judicial traditions and the social role of the army in
particular. This is why the approach of social sciences is central.
A glance at western experience is equally essential to an assessment
of the post-soviet military justice system. Thus from the viewpoint of
comparative law, we are also interested in studies related to
countries such as Brazil, the United States, Israel and French Algeria.
This issue could cover the following topics:
The Russian Military Justice System
I. A historical approach: the history of military justice in Russia
II. The Russian military justice system after the disappearance of the
USSR: reforms and advances
1) Reforms and advances after the fall of the USSR
2) Institutions, their functioning and competencies
3) Staff
4) Criminal procedures
5) Crimes judged
6) Defence of the accused
7) Ways of enforcing sentences
III. Dependence of military justice on political power: role of the
military prosecutor in inquiries concerning political matters
Chechnya: A Case Study
In this section, special attention will be paid to the situation in
the North Caucasus with the case of military courts in the North
Caucasian region in the context of the Chechnyan conflict; the
question of competence sharing between civilian and military courts.
A Comparative Approach
Civil vs. military justice: are there differences in procedures and
sentences / condemnations for similar crimes?
The CIS: What model are the CIS republics tending towards? The weight
of the Soviet legacy and the influence of western models
The authoritarian legacy: the case of Latin America: authoritarian
regimes have often extended the competences of military courts in
order to prosecute political opponents or protect members of the
police and armed forces engaged in repressive actions. What happens to
military courts after the transition towards democracy? Why do some
regimes drastically reform their system of military justice and others
not? The study of reforms (or non reforms) of military justice in
Latin American states will shed considerable light on the weight of
the totalitarian legacy on their justice system.
The West: A comparative study of the functioning of courts, of the
treatment of deserters, of the system of courts-martial in Russia,
Germany, the U.S., French Algeria, Israel
If you wish to submit an article, please first contact the editorial
board and send an 100-word abstract in English. The deadline for
article submission is April 10, 2008, with publication in June 2008.
Final decisions on publication will be made by the Editorial Board.
Please send your contributions or inquiries to:
Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, Chief Editor, contact@pipss.org
Aude Merlin & Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski (8th Issue Editors)
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