Mr Lebedev informed the President about the Russian courts’ work over the course of the year. Mr Putin said the country’s judicial system had maintained a steady rhythm of work over 2007.
Mr Lebedev also announced that the upcoming plenum of the Supreme Court will examine a number of organisational matters concerned with improving the justice system and ensuring that criminal, civil, and administrative cases are examined rapidly. Mr Lebedev said that the time it takes for cases to come before the courts is directly linked to the volume of work judges have to get through. The courts examined more than 7 million civil cases and almost 6 million administrative cases in 2007, while the number of criminal cases was close to 1 million, Mr Lebedev said.