protest

an objection. In Soviet law the protest is one of the ways in which observance of the laws is supervised.

A protest by way of general supervision may be lodged by a procurator against any illegal enactment issued by ministries and departments, their subordinate establishments and enterprises, or executive and administrative agencies of local soviets of working people’s deputies. The protest is sent to the agency that issued the enactment or to a higher agency. It must be considered within ten days, and the procurator must be informed of the decision reached. A protest by way of general supervision usually does not stop the implementation of the protested enactments.

A cassation protest is made by a procurator to a higher court against a judgment of guilty (or decision) rendered by a trial court before the judgment has taken effect, on the grounds that the judgment is unsubstantiated or illegal. Such a protest prevents the implementation of the judgment (decision). Cassation protests may be lodged against the judgments and decisions of all courts with the exception of the Supreme Court of the USSR and the supreme courts of the Union republics.

A particular (chastnyi) protest is lodged against rulings by a trial court or against the orders of a judge pertaining to incidental (particular) questions in a criminal or civil case.

A protest by way of judicial supervision is lodged by a procurator or judge with a court having supervisory jurisdiction so that the court may review, by way of judicial supervision, judgments, rulings, or orders that have already gone into effect. Because this kind of protest is intended to correct judicial errors, it has no time limit, except where a review is requested because the sentence is too light or because the law for a graver crime should be applied to the convicted person. A protest against a judgment of acquittal or against a court order or ruling to dismiss a case is permitted only within one year after these enactments have taken legal effect. The protest does not stop the implementation of the court judgment, decision, or ruling being protested until the case has been decided by way of judicial supervision, unless the person lodging the protest orders a stay of execution.

Under the law the right of protest by way of judicial supervision is granted to the procurator general of the USSR and the chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR (or their deputies), to the procurators and chairmen of the supreme courts of the Union republics (or their deputies), to the procurators and chairmen of courts of the ASSR’s, krais, oblasts, and national okrugs, to the chief military procurator and the chairman of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, and to military procurators and chairmen of the military tribunals of the various branches of the armed forces, military districts, fleets, and army groups.