Vedomosti
Russia to boycott Nobel Peace Prize ceremony
China’s decision to boycott the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony has unexpectedly won the support of 18 more countries, Russia included, which declined the invitation to attend this week’s awarding of the prize to Chinese national and convicted dissident Liu Xiaobo.
The Nobel committee accuses the Chinese authorities of putting unprecedented pressure on other countries to boycott the ceremony.
Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an 11-year sentence for subversion, heard he had been nominated for the peace prize when his wife, escorted by guards, was taken to see him in prison. Shortly after that, she was put under house arrest. His former associates, who were planning to go to Sweden, are also now under close surveillance by Chinese authorities.
As a rule, all countries’ envoys are invited to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. This year, despite the high-profile boycott by at least 19 countries (Algeria and Sri Lanka are still undecided), the Nobel Committee is trying to save face by alleging that it is not uncommon for countries to skip the ceremony. Ten countries were absent from Martti Ahtisaari’s ceremony in 2008.
The Chinese government initially described the Nobel Committee’s decision as “an obscenity” and has since stepped up its criticism to Sweden.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the Committee was "orchestrating an anti-China farce" and that China was not going to “alter our decisions because of the interference of a bunch of clowns.”
The countries skipping this year’s award include Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Pakistan, Tunisia, Serbia, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Russia’s courts go digital
The legal community is engaged in a lively discussion over the idea of integrating IT systems further into routine clerical court procedures.
Alexander Gusev, General Director of the Supreme Court’s Judicial Department, says they are considering the possibility of legalizing electronic court documents and allowing electronic information carriers like flash drives. Most likely, the electronic paperwork will exist in parallel to hard copies of the documents. The idea has created quite a stir throughout the legal community. Some experts say that the practice is already in place informally today. Investigators give judges digital copies of the case file on a flash drive. The question at stake now is whether or not legalizing electronic paperwork risks a massive violation of the defendants’ rights.
Lawyers interviewed by RG believe that defendants’ rights will not suffer as a result. This technology per se cannot cause any harm. On the contrary, it could free judges and their assistants from much of the routine clerical work, allowing them to focus on the case at hand.
Having the case file available in an electronic form is merely a technical issue which has the potential to do a significant amount to streamline the judicial process, says lawyer Anton Lelyavsky. So long as judges adhere strictly to legal procedure and examine the evidence properly, there is no danger that defendants’ rights will be violated, Lelyavsky explains.
Files for major cases can be up to, or even over 100 pages long. A lot of material often has to be repeated in sentencing, whatever the final verdict. This raises the question of whether it makes sense in our digital age to weigh the court down in processes inherited from centuries past.
Allowing e-paperwork means that judges will have more time for research and to assess the evidence before them, while defendants too only stand to benefit, he says. “If the judge signs a document, he takes full responsibility for every word it contains,” says Lelyavsky.
Often several lawyers need to familiarize themselves with documents relating to a case, but there is only one hard copy file available. In these instances, allowing e-paperwork would eradicate that problem, Lelyavsky believes.
Lawyers agree that e-paperwork would need to be properly regulated in law. Currently, the law does not explicitly prohibit using this technology, but neither does it expressly allow it. This state of being “in limbo” can give rise to allegations of "electronic conspiracy" and "copy and paste sentencing.”
In the future, the further introduction of modern technology will make it possible to pay the litigation fee over a cell phone, explains Gusev. Videos of previous sessions in open court will be available for the litigating parties, and in general more information will be posted on court websites.
In addition, there are plans to move to paperless court proceedings, relying entirely on e-files, including digital audio and video content.
Nezavisimaya Gazetа
World Cup to replace federal targeted programs
Russia has hit upon a new method of building the transportation, tourist, sports and social infrastructure. Instead of regional development programs, it has opted for large-scale preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi and the 2018 Football World Cup. In the meantime, the budget financing for related federal programs has been curtailed. One of the reasons is that officials prefer to boost unforeseen and non-target spending in rush campaigns to stage the world sports shows. The 2018 World Cup is becoming a new sacred cow to lobby for practically unlimited financing.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia will have a good effect on the country’s economy, says Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. “The international competitions mean more jobs, new orders and new investments in all Russia’s regions,” he said at a party conference in Khabarovsk. Preparations for the World Cup aim to build stadiums and improve the infrastructure in 13 Russian cities. Construction and renovation of airports, roads and hotels will fully recoup themselves, Putin believes.
Official estimates put World Cup spending at 300 billion rubles. Independent experts cite a far greater figure, reaching trillions. But Russia will not cut back on expenses because the outlook is to improve the country’s image.
But the main problem is not even future expenses. It appears that the country lacks the minimum facilities for sports events, or even for decent living standards or healthy economic development. Only the Olympic Games or the World Cup made the authorities realize that there are no quality roads, airports, modern hotels, or stadiums in the country.
Among other things, the Russian budget provides financing for long-term federal targeted programs, which are considered to be an effective tool for socio-economic policy, especially where it comes to large infrastructure projects.
But a rough comparison of annual spending on these programs and on preparations for the Olympics and the World Cup shows a curtailment in program financing. The sports federal targeted program is expected to be cut by over 35% in the next three years.
On Tuesday, Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov reported that the federal budget will begin financing the World Cup after 2012.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta experts, however, believe the effectiveness of spending on the global competitions will be lower than the federal programs. This is because such image-building projects as the Olympics or the World Cup offer more scope for officials’ “corruption fantasy.” No federal program can compare in size with the Olympic or Cup campaign.
“From my point of view, the first consideration here is the motivation behind the corruption, and only then can we address the sports issue,” says Mikhail Delyagin, director of the Institute of Globalization Studies. “The championship is turning into a sacred cow that can justify any construction and any project,” says another expert. “The government is telling the public tongue in cheek that business will build everything. But what kind of business? All expenses will be ultimately borne by taxpayers,” the expert says.
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