Russia ends jury trials for some crimes

Medvedev signs bill on offenses against the state

MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paused in the last quiet hours of a dying year to sign a controversial law that eliminates jury trials for "crimes against the state," a measure that lawyers and human-rights groups fear will be the start of a dangerous exertion of Kremlin control over government critics.

The law does away with jury trials for a range of offenses, leaving people accused of treason, revolt, sabotage, espionage, or terrorism at the mercy of three judges rather than a panel of peers.

Critics say the law is dangerous because judges in Russia are vulnerable to manipulation and intimidation by the government.

A parallel piece of legislation, pushed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and still awaiting discussion in parliament, seeks to expand the legal definition of treason to such a degree that observers fear that anybody who criticizes the government could be arrested and, because of the law signed Wednesday, tried without a jury.

Little discussed in state media, the criminal code changes would arm the government to crack down on any whispers of dissent, human-rights groups and lawyers have warned.

The changes also seek a stronger hand for the FSB, the modern incarnation of the Soviet KGB, by giving the state wider latitude in cases that fall under the intelligence agency rather than police jurisdiction. Some critics point to the days of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as a comparable legal structure.

"It's a preparation for terror, although not the grand terror of the 1930s," said Andrei Illarionov, a fellow at Washington's Cato Institute and a former economic adviser to Putin. "They are much smarter now. They are preparing some kind of selective terror against those who are courageous enough to speak up."

The purpose, many observers agree, is not only to give the government greater tools in cracking down, but also to send out tremors of fear.

"Not that they necessarily will go ahead and do it, but they are threatening us very, very seriously that they can do it and are ready to do it," said Lev Ponomaryov, leader of the For Human Rights movement. "They want to have the legitimate possibility to call all opposition people enemies of the state."

Medvedev's last-minute signing had all the trademarks of a pre-holiday news dump engineered to generate the least possible media coverage. New Year's Eve is the biggest holiday of the year in Russia, and even those watching the news were distracted by the failing negotiations over shipments of Russian gas to Ukraine. The law was announced by a single sentence on Russia's Interfax news agency.

Human rights and civic society groups have banded together to speak out against the move toward a broader definition of treason, which will be debated in a parliament dominated by Putin's United Russia party.

The government has framed the jury law as an anti-terrorism measure, but legal experts warn its implications are broader and more ominous - especially if the treason changes go through.

A chilling effect had already begun to creep into the legal system even before Medvedev took a pen to the law, critics said.

Svetlana Gannushkina, a human-rights lawyer and chairwoman of Russia's Civic Assistance Committee, gave the example of a Dagestani man represented by her organization. A jury found him not guilty of sabotage more than a year ago, and Russia's Supreme Court backed the verdict. Since the move to change the law, an appeal led to a cancellation of the jury ruling and the whole process starts again, she said.

"They call it `managing the signals,' " she said. "You don't even need to pass a decision anymore; you just need to send the signals."