Article 121

1. Judges shall be irremovable.

2. The powers of a judge may be terminated or suspended only on the grounds and in accordance with the procedure established by federal law.

Article 122

1. Judges shall be inviolable.

2. A judge cannot face criminal liability otherwise than in accordance with the procedure established by federal law.

 

Ex. 28. Read the extracts from Article 125 of the RF Constitution to add to the information about the Constitutional Court.

2. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation decides on cases on conformity to the Constitution of the Russian Federation of:

a) federal laws, normative acts of the President;

b) constitutions of republics, charters, and laws and other normative acts of constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

c) treaties between State government bodies of the Russian Federation and State government bodies of constituent entities;

d) international treaties of the Russian Federation which are not in force.

3. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation resolves disputes on authority:

a) between federal State government bodies;

b) between State government bodies of the Russian Federation and State government bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

c) between higher State government bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

4. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, on receiving com­plaints about violations of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens and at the request of courts, checks the constitutionality of a law which is used.

5. The Constitutional Court provides the interpretation of the Constitu­tion of the Russian Federation.

6. Acts or certain provisions thereof which are recognized as unconstitutional shall lose force; international treaties of the Russian Federation which do not correspond to the Constitution of the Russian Federation shall not be implemented or used.

 

Ex. 29. What do these people do in the court:

A judge, a prosecutor, a witness, a plaintiff, a defendant, a juror, an accused, press, public.

 

Ex. 30. Which courts do you think would deal with:

a) traffic offence

b)rape

c) murder

d) stealing

e) bank robbery

f) failure to fulfil the contract

Ex. 31. Speak on:

— the courts of first and second instance

— the basic judicial branch

— the Supreme Court

— the Constitutional Court

— the Supreme Arbitration Court

— the proceedings and participants in the trial

TEXTS FOR LISTENING WITH COMPREHENSION