MOSCOW, October 2 (RAPSI, Kirill Ryabchikov) – Moscow’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin and chairman of Russia’s Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev on Wednesday launched the work of the Second cassation court of general jurisdiction, RAPSI reported from the court.

The special guests stood with parting words addressed to the new court’s staff.

The mayor of Moscow noted that the court’s work is very important for stability and maintenance of justice in the city.

The Supreme Court’s chair in turn said that the court would perform a large amount of work. According to Lebedev, the full-on cassation is a great step towards the development of the country’s judicial system. He believes that the new system will help speed up the society’s education in the law.

According to the chairman of the newly established Second cassation court of general jurisdiction Anatoly Bondar, the instance is expected to consider over 70,000 cases per year.

The Second cassation court of general jurisdiction is a body authorized to consider appeals against rulings delivered not only by Moscow courts but also by courts of Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver and Yaroslavl regions.

General jurisdiction and military courts of appeal and cassation began their work on October 1. The Supreme Court noted earlier that consideration during the proceedings of all cassation appeals against final judicial acts will let parties stand their ground more efficiently and help improve most mistakes of lower courts at “the first cassation instance stage”.

Courts of appeal and cassation are established on the exterritorial principle. The territorial jurisdiction of each cassation court includes 7-13 territorial entities while the jurisdiction of each appeals court includes 14-21 entities.

The judicial reform envisages the possibility of distance participation in appeals and cassation hearings via videoconferencing upon a corresponding petition.