The legislator just slightly opens access to judicial dissents in civil and criminal proceedings

A bill on access to judicial dissents in criminal and civil courts has been signed into law

A bill on giving access to judicial dissents in criminal and civil court proceedings has been (№ 272-ФЗ of 21.10.2013). The bill has been prepared following the Ruling of the Constitutional Court of 17 January 2012 № 174-O-O (which, remarkably, itself gave rise to several judicial dissents). The law amends Article 310 of the Criminal Procedure Code "The Pronouncement of Sentence". Accirding to it, the dissenting opinion of a judge is joined to the file of the case and shall not be pronounced in the courtroom. However, when pronouncing the sentence, the presiding judge should announce the existence of the dissenting opinion and explain to participants to the case their right to bring motion on getting access to it within 3 days. It is not clear from the text of the law whether the motion should be satisfied in any event or it may be disallowed on whatever grounds (or without any grounds at all).  

Amendments to the Civil Procedure Code establish that the existence of a dissenting opinion should be revealed to the participants to the case at the moment of pronouncing court decision. Also, their right to get access to it and the term for such familiarisation should be explained. The law, however, does not regulate this term in any way. Likewise, it does not contain rules on the possibility of publication of dissenting opinions (at present, only dissents from memders of Constitutional Court and the Presidium of the Supreme Commercial Court are clearly subject to publication). 

272-ФЗ.pdf