From The Raw Story
By John Byrne

In Russia, democracy continues to erode.

Less than a year after then-President Vladimir Putin largely stage managed a transition from president to prime minister to get around a term limit law, and four years after the legislature gave Putin the power to appoint governors of his choosing, the Russian parliament has approved a measure that will strip a wide swath of suspects of their right to a jury trial.

By a 355-85 vote, the Kremlin-led lower house of parliament — the Duma — voted to give control of verdicts to a judge in cases of terrorism, hostage-taking, armed insurrection, sabotage and civil disturbances. The proposal will now go to the upper house, where approval is certain.

Ironically for those who lived in the United States during the Cold War, it was Russian communists who rebuked the measure, saying it was another step away from democracy under the Putin-led era.

“It’s another blow to democratic principles of justice,” Communist lawmaker Viktor Ilyukhin said.
Very few suspects get jury even today

Jury trials were introduced in 1993, having been barred for nearly three-quarters of a century during Communist rule.

Yet even as recently as 2006, only 700 of 1.2 million criminal cases were tried by a jury in Russia — so the move may be considered more symbolic than material for most accused of crimes.

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