Russia's Medvedev orders clean-up of courts

By Oleg Shchedrov and Aydar Buribaev

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered steps to root out corruption in the judicial system on Tuesday and to underline his message a senior judge was disciplined over real estate deals.

Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer, raised the issue of reform of the judicial system a day after he unveiled a broader program to fight the pervasive graft which many analysts say is curbing Russia's economic growth.

"Our main target is to make sure that courts are independent," Medvedev told a Kremlin meeting with top officials.

"There is a principle under which courts only obey the law. This is the foundation of respect for the courts and faith in fair justice," he added. "This is our basic task."

"A package of measures should be considered to rule out unlawful decisions (resulting from) various kinds of pressure, phone calls and ... bribes," Medvedev said.

In a rare case of a senior judge being disciplined, the head of Russia's Higher Arbitration Court applied to have one of his subordinates, Lyudmila Maikova, suspended for obtaining three apartments on favorable terms.

The judge "in resolving her apartment affairs, committed acts which reduced the authority of the judicial authorities and damaged the reputation of judges," arbitration court chief Anton Ivanov wrote in a document obtained by Reuters.

Maikova could not be reached for comment. Ivanov is a former university classmate of the Russian president and the only person Medvedev has identified in public as his friend.

The document said Moscow City Hall -- which was involved in a number of legal disputes settled in Maikova's court -- had helped her swap her apartment for two properties, and that she had bought a third from a developer at below market price.

PRESSURE ON JUDGES

Independent legal experts and lawyers say Russian judges routinely come under outside pressure -- from businessmen offering bribes or from officials -- to hand down judgments which are at odds with the law.

They say judges are too poorly paid and lacking in status to be able to resist the pressure.

Economists say the shortcomings in the legal system discourage investors, who do not have faith that the courts can protect their lawful interests.

In the highest-profile case, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky accused Kremlin officials of fabricating fraud and tax evasion charges for political reasons. He is serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Medvedev, elected in March with the help of his popular predecessor Vladimir Putin, and sworn in earlier this month, has said ensuring the rule of law is at the heart of his plans to modernize the Russian economy.