Geography of the appellate courts of general jurisdiction in Russia: problems of providing access to justice in revision of criminal cases

The subject of this research is the study of the work of appellate courts of general jurisdiction on revision of criminal cases in higher jurisdiction courts based on the position of their of their geographical location on the territory of the Russian Federation. The five newly formed appellate courts of general jurisdiction do not fully contribute to realization of such principle of criminal procedure as independence of judges, as well as adherence to the requirements on directness and oral nature of judicial proceedings. The goal of this article is to examine the positions of the current appellate courts of general jurisdiction from geographical perspective. For a deeper examination of the appellate peculiarity, the scientific research into this problem was carried out with consideration of the geographical specificity of the territory of Russia and its regions, and thus the level of development of logistical infrastructure in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The scientific novelty consists in the original proposal for creation of twelve appellate courts of general jurisdiction throughout the territory of the Russian Federation with their permanent placement in cities not currently handled by other judicial institutions of higher jurisdiction. Such new approach should fully the citizens’ right to access justice, and also ensure the principle of independence of judges.