Russian judges banned from using obscene language

According to its board, the opposite situation not only violates the law, but also contradicts generally accepted moral and ethical standards, and also negatively affects the authority of justice.

The document named the situations in which the use of obscene language in court orders occurs.

The most rare are cases in which obscene language is the subject of consideration, and the appointment of an expertise, for example, a linguistic one, is required.

In this case, judges are advised to be extremely careful in drawing up decisions and to replace parts of the letters of an obscene word with symbols, or even use omissions of fragments of words.

More often, in the opinion of the Council, obscene language gets into judicial acts as a result of mass copying of the texts of claims, objections or even indictments.

This method of drawing up judicial acts has already been called a ‘pen drive justice’. It boils down to the fact that the parties provide the secretary or assistant of judge with their positions, recorded on a pen drive and attached to the case materials or voiced in the session, and then these documents are copied and reflected in the court rulings.

The Council of Judges noted that the absence of any analysis of the fragments used, accompanied by the transfer of errors and obscene language into the text of the judicial act, undermines the authority not only of a particular judge when considering a case, but also of justice as a whole, lowering the public assessment of the work of courts.