Or so it would seem.

The president of the Russian Federation’s Supreme Court, Vyacheslav Lebedev, told journalists on Wednesday that ‘Russian courts have the right to assess a criminal case not only where the crime has been perpetrated but also where the sentence is being served.’

‘Naturally’, Vyacheslav Lebedev added, ‘cases may be assessed by courts according to both criteria, as per our Criminal Procedural Code.’

Press Centre comments: However, the territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case is regulated by two articles in the Russian Federation’s Criminal Procedural Code (article 32 and 35), which directly oppose the statement made by the director of the Supreme Court. The Criminal Procedural Code clearly states that ‘a criminal case shall be subject to consideration in the court at the place of the perpetration of the crime

Article 32. Territorial Jurisdiction of a Criminal Case
1. A criminal case shall be subject to consideration in the court at the place of the perpetration of the crime, with the exception of the cases stipulated by Article 35 of the present Code.
2. If the crime was initiated at a place under the jurisdiction of one court and completed at a place to which is spread the jurisdiction of another court, the given criminal case shall be referred to the jurisdiction of the court at the place where the crime was completed.
3. If the crimes are committed at different places, the criminal case shall be considered by the court, whose jurisdiction is spread to that place, where most of the crimes, investigated on the given criminal case, are committed or where the most serious of them is committed.

Article 35. Changing the Territorial Jurisdiction of a Criminal Case
1. The territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case may be changed:
1) upon the party’s petition – if the objection it has entered to the constitution of the corresponding court is satisfied in conformity with Article 65 of the present Code;
2) upon the party’s petition or the at the initiative of the chairman of the court, to which the criminal case has arrived – in the following cases:
a) if all the judges of the given court have earlier taken part in the proceedings on the criminal case under examination, which is a ground for their disqualification in conformity with Article 63 of the present Code;
b) if not all the participants in the criminal proceedings on the given criminal case reside on the territory, to which the jurisdiction of the given court is spread, and if all the accused consent to the change of the territorial jurisdiction of the given criminal case.
2. The change of the territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case shall be admissible only before the start of the legal action.
3. The question of changing the territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case on the grounds pointed out in the first part of this Article, shall be resolved by the chairman of a superior court or by his deputy in accordance with the procedure established by Parts Three, Four and Six of Article 125 of this Code.