Although the Council of Judges’ formal powers are fairly modest , the chairman of this judicial self-governance body is officially the second most senior person in the hierarchy of Russian general jurisdiction courts. The only person above him is the head of the Supreme Court—which is now none other than Krasnov.
A similar fate befell Viktor Momotov, chairman of the Council of Judges of Russia. On Sept. 23, the Prosecutor General’s Office accused him of illegal business activities and of having ties to an organized crime gang.
After a court had already ordered the seizure of university assets and Zapesotsky had been suspended , in what were literally the final hours of Krasnov’s tenure, the Prosecutor General’s Office accused Zapesotsky of plotting to organize student protests in his defense and requested an expedited review of the case against him. The rector hotfooted it to Moscow in search of protection, but there’s no guarantee he will be able to stop the prosecution.
Zapesotsky is a prominent representative of the old-school St. Petersburg establishment. He is also a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, which has enabled Zapesotsky to get away with behaving eccentrically in public and conducting some highly dubious experiments in education.
On Sept.
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