A video of Russian judge sleeping during a trial went viral on the RuNet (Russian internet).
What makes it especially outrageous is the fact that “upon waking up” the judge sentenced the defendant of this trial to 5 years in prison.
While the video was uploaded to YouTube about a week ago, the hearing itself took place on August 12th, 2012.
Judge from Blagoveshchensk sleeps during trial
From Amur.info:
The video was uploaded to Youtube by Vladislav Nikitenko, an activist from Amur Oblast. He claims that the hero of this video is Yevgeny Makhno, Deputy Chairman of Blagoveshchensk City Criminal Court.
“Later the judge sentenced the defendant to five years in prison,” – is written in the description of the video.
Vladislav Nikitenko believes that it was a serious violation of the procedural norms. He hopes that the judge will be dismissed and the sentence revoked.
Journalists of the local TV station sent inquiries to the chairman of the municipal court. They hope to get a response from Pavel Belousov – supervisor of the judge shown in the video.
In his turn, Vladislav Nikitenko says that he can provide another video of the same judge, in which he can be seen playing with his iPhone during the judicial investigation.
***
Nikitenko, indeed, uploaded the video mentioned above. Here it is.
***
And the third video in conclusion.
Same trial, same day, same judge… sleeping again. But this time during the prosecutor’s speech (the first video was filmed during the speech of defense lawyer).
Note:
According to statistics only 0.2% (1 in 500) defendants are acquitted in Russian courts.
Comments of Russian netizens
Политбомж: Amur judges… only 30 of them left :-)Амурские судьи… их осталось 30… :-)
[Note: In news "Amur" is often mentioned in reference to the rare species of Amur tigers]
поликарп поликарпов: He doesn’t give a fuck! Because for him you are shit )))ему ПОХУЙ ! вы все гавно для него )))
serzhOlozer: I love my country so much, but hate the state)я так люблю свою страну, но ненавижу государство)
zOmbiRovany: Why shouldn’t he sleep if the sentence is known long time ago.хули ему не спать,приговор давно известен
Bacilla17: Someone should take a marker and draw mustache!!!)))Надо было маркером ему усы пририсовать!!!)))
Kalretino Go: Scum.Тварь

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Here is his Chinese Counterpart doing the same thing. http://shanghaiist.com/2013/01/17/shaanxi-official-doses.php
The verdict was obviously decided long ago. Someone didn’t pay enough to stay out of jail, so there was nothing left to think about.
Russia is in dire need of reform. I think its time that the judges feared the people.
Right.
Because if they don’t change – people might start killing and beheading judges (as recently in Ukraine).
And in Texas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLN5vhAsi1Y
Worse yet, the defense lawyer sleeps (again in Texas), and the Supreme court says the man (Sentenced to DEATH) has no right to repeal! “A defendant in a Texas murder trial has no absolute right to a lawyer who stays awake, panel says.”
oops: link for second story – http://articles.latimes.com/2000/oct/28/news/mn-43390
Crazy…. The amount of ineptitude that people shed light on in Russia is staggering. Hard to believe that this stuff happens, yet as much as it does, one can see why Russian citizens are so upset.
“Jurors and others in Judge Donald Thompson’s courtroom kept hearing
a strange whooshing noise, like a bicycle pump or maybe a blood
pressure cuff. During one trial, Thompson seemed so distracted that
some jurors thought he was playing a hand-held video game or tying
fly-fishing lures behind the bench.
The explanation,
investigators say, is even stranger than some imagined: The judge had a
habit of masturbating with a penis pump under his robe during trials.”
“Foster told authorities she saw Thompson use the device almost daily
during the August 2003 murder trial of Kurt Vomberg, a man accused of
shaking a toddler to death. The case ended in a hung jury. The
whooshing sound could be heard on Foster’s audiotape of the trial.”
Judges are unfortunately everywhere.
LOL.
I would expect the judge, who masturbates during the trial, to be more lenient :)
UPDATE:
The judge was fired.
(source: http://www.topnews.ru/news_id_55844.html)
UPDATE:
Court decision made by the judge Makhno was cancelled!
(source: http://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2013/03/04/n_2781285.shtml)