Sleeping Judge Resigns: Man Sentenced to 5 Years to Get Retrial (VIDEO, PHOTO)
The so-called "sleeping judge" has resigned this week in Russia, after facing strong rebuke and calls to resign when he was caught in a video apparently sleeping during a trial.
The video in question that sparked the controversy showed Judge Yevgeny Machine seemingly dozing off in court during a trial in which a defendant was eventually sentenced to five years in a penal colony. The video sparked outrage, and calls for the judge to resign were made after critics of the Russian justice system jumped on the incident as evidence of a broken system.
The Russian justice system has a notoriously high conviction rate, and critics were outraged when the video of the sleeping judge went viral. The video showed the judge sleeping as a defense lawyer was making his arguments in a trial last July in the far-eastern town of Blagoveshchensk.
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Regional judge and panel member Valentina Pozharskaya confirmed to state news agency RIA Novosti: "The Judges Qualification Panel accepted Makhno's resignation from his judge's post."
It has also been revealed that the businessman who was sentenced in the fraud trial where the judge slept will have a new trial commencing on Feb. 14. The re-trial has been agreed after an appeal was made saying that the original trial was "unjust."
Here is the video footage of the Russian judge apparently sleeping as the defense gives its evidence and makes its arguments:
