Mantle of persecution: VKKS allowed to initiate proceedings against two judges from Kuzbass

On July 13, the HCCC granted two submissions by Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee, related to judges from the Kemerovo Region. According to investigators, one of them extorted almost 3.4 million rubles from the person involved in the criminal case, convincing him that she could influence the outcome of the trial, and the other organized the illegal receipt of payments by relatives under the resettlement program from emergency housing. How the practice of holding judges accountable is changing and why such investigations remain rare is in the Izvestia article.

Fraud against the defendant

The board's decision became a necessary stage for launching an investigation against representatives of the judiciary. The consideration of the issue took less than two hours — after that, the investigation was able to proceed to procedural actions.

Elena Stepantsova, Chairman of the Anzhero-Sudzhensky District Court, and Natalia Dolgikh, judge of the Leninsk-Kuznetsky District Court, are accused of fraud and embezzlement.

Dolgikh is charged with four episodes. In 2024, the judge learned about the initiation of a criminal case against a local resident Saechkin, it follows from the case file. He was accused of poaching and faced up to eight years in prison. The judge suggested that the defendant contact his daughter, a lawyer, and he agreed. And when the defendant got off with a fine, Natalia Dolgikh convinced Saechkin that the lenient sentence was solely her merit, which was not true. As a reward, she demanded 1 million rubles, and then another 350 thousand rubles. After receiving the entire amount, the judge, along with an accomplice, notified Saechkin's mother about the alleged new criminal prosecution of her son. This time, for violating tax laws. Dolgikh demanded another 500 thousand rubles to pay bribes to employees of the Federal Tax Service. Having received the specified amount, the accomplices disposed of it at their own discretion, the case file says.

The latest episode of the investigation is related to the embezzlement of 1.5 million rubles by the judge under the pretext of paying for certain current expenses for legal support of Saechkin's business activities.

Fraud with social benefits

The chairman of the Angero-Sudzhensky Court of the Kemerovo region, Elena Stepantsova, in the period from 2016 to 2020, the TFR is confident, illegally issued social payments to her relatives intended for the resettlement of citizens from dilapidated housing in the territory of the liquidated Kuzbass mines. As a result, the judge's grandmother received 1.2 million rubles from the budget, and her uncle — 1.15 million rubles.

After the appointment of Igor Krasnov as Chairman of the Supreme Court in September 2025, the HCCC stripped the immunity of more than 30 judges. Some of them became defendants in criminal cases, while others became defendants in anti—corruption lawsuits filed by the Prosecutor General's Office.

Among the most high—profile decisions is a lawsuit against the Supreme Court judge Viktor Momotov. Through the court, his property, registered in front persons, was seized in the amount of 9 billion rubles.

After the lawsuit, the Prosecutor General's Office seized more than 7 billion rubles from the chairman of the Krasnodar Regional Court, Alexander Chernov, and his daughter.

A criminal case on the fact of receiving a bribe in the amount of 2.5 million rubles was initiated against two judges of the Smolninsky Court of St. Petersburg - Karine Golikova and Valery Tarasov.

As former judge and lawyer Kirill Marinenko told Izvestia, the new chairman of the Supreme Court, Igor Krasnov, has very competently built the work to purge the judiciary of obviously corrupt elements.

"I don't have data from two years ago to compare how many judges were prosecuted or sued at that time," Marinenko said. — But there definitely wasn't such a massive surge.

According to Kirill Marinenko, Igor Krasnov's actions are consistent and logical, and this, according to him, is impossible not to notice. He also noted that the fight against corruption has traditionally found support in society.

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Why it is difficult to hold judges accountable

Victoria Tyutyunnikova, chairman of the Lugansk regional department of the Russian Bar Association, told Izvestia that it is extremely difficult to bring a judge to criminal responsibility because of the special status of immunity (judicial immunity).

"It's not enough just to collect evidence," the expert said. — The decision is made personally by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and only with the consent of a special instance — the Higher Qualification Board of Judges.

According to Victoria Tyutyunnikova, the HCCC assesses whether the alleged crime is related to the judge's exercise of his powers in the administration of justice. If such a connection is confirmed, no criminal prosecution permit is issued.

— Even after the case is initiated, many subsequent steps — search, detention, arrest — require the separate consent of the qualification board. While approvals, inspections and appeals are underway, the investigation is wasting time: witnesses may forget the details, and physical evidence may disappear," the expert emphasized.

The procedure for initiating a criminal case against a judge usually takes from six months to a year, said lawyer Vadim Bagaturia.

— Even if a judge is caught red-handed, he cannot be arrested immediately. A police officer may be immediately detained in a procedural manner after receiving a bribe, but a judge must be released after detention until all procedures provided for by law are completed," he explained.

According to Vadim Bagaturia, the main difficulty lies precisely in obtaining consent to criminal prosecution. After the decision of the HCCC, the holder of judicial status actually loses the privileges of a special entity.

— Since the appointment of Igor Krasnov as chairman of the Supreme Court, a tougher policy towards the criminal prosecution of judges has indeed been implemented, — said lawyer Alexey Pershin. — I know him personally. A very competent, tenacious leader. I hope that the purge of personnel will continue, and this will encourage judges to comply with the law.

What threatens the judges

Most often, judges are involved in corruption and crimes against justice, Tyutyunnikova noted. Practice shows that harsh real terms are imposed in such cases: for receiving large and especially large bribes, they can give from seven to 15 years in prison with huge fines, for fraud using official position or on an especially large scale, they can be sentenced to up to 10 years. For making a deliberately unlawful judicial act in the presence of serious consequences, the judge faces from three to ten years in prison. In the same range, punishment is imposed in the case of abuse of official authority, if it has entailed serious consequences.

When passing sentence, according to Victoria Tyutyunnikova, the court also takes into account the former status of the accused. Decisions usually indicate that they violate the judicial oath and undermine the authority of the judiciary, so suspended sentences in such cases are extremely rare. At the same time, an official position cannot be re—considered as an aggravating circumstance if it is already part of the corpus delicti, for example, when receiving a bribe.

Lawyer Vadim Bagaturia disagreed with this assessment. In his opinion, there is no separate procedure for the appointment of stricter or milder measures for representatives of the judiciary — they respond on a general basis.

— In our country, only employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs bear increased responsibility if they commit a crime. Although, perhaps, someone may impose a slightly more severe punishment for the edification of other judges," the expert admitted.

After the entry into force of the guilty verdict, the former judge loses the status of a retired judge, immunity and the right to a lifetime salary. In addition, his path to public service is closed, Victoria Tyutyunnikova said.