Vyacheslav Lebedev (Chief Justice)

For other people named Vyacheslav Lebedev, see Vyacheslav Lebedev.

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Mikhailovich and the family name is Lebedev.

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev (Russian: Вячеслав Михайлович Лебедев; 14 August 1943 – 23 February 2024) was a Russian lawyer and jurist who served as the Chief Justice of Russia from 1989 until his death in 2024.^[2]

Vyacheslav Lebedev
Вячеслав Лебедев
Official portrait
1st Chief Justice of the Russian Federation
In office 25 December 1991 – 23 February 2024
Nominated by	Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Pyotr Serkov (acting)[1] Irina Podnosova
Chief Justice of the Russian SFSR
In office 26 July 1989 – 16 December 1991
Preceded by	Yevgeny Smolentsev
Succeeded by	Office disestablished
Chief Judge of the Moscow City Court
In office 6 September 1986 – 11 October 1989
Preceded by	Lev Almazov
Succeeded by	Zoya Korneva [ru]
Personal details
Born	(1943-08-14)14 August 1943 Moscow, USSR
Died	23 February 2024(2024-02-23) (aged 80) Moscow, Russia
Resting place	Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Moscow State University (Faculty of Law)

Biography

Lebedev was born on 14 August 1943 in Moscow.^[3] He attended the law faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, which he graduated in 1968.^[4]

Career

Rise in the Communist Party

Lebedev began work in 1969 as a human resources functionary of a department of the Ministry of Industrial Construction of the USSR. In 1970, he was elected as a Judge of the People's District Court for Leningradskiy District in Moscow, and in 1977 he was appointed Chief Judge of the People's District Court for Zheleznodorozhniy District in Moscow. He became deputy Chief Judge of Moscow City Court in 1984, assuming the position of the court's Chief Judge in 1986.^[5]

On July 26, 1989, Lebedev was appointed Chairman of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. In August 1991, as Chairman of the Supreme Court, he did not support the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). In May 1993, Lebedev was part of the working commission tasked with refining the presidential draft of the Constitution.^[5]

Death

Lebedev died in Moscow on the night of 23 February 2024, at the age of 80.^[6][7] He suffered from cancer, and had recently been admitted to hospital.^[8]

Honours

Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev talking to President Vladimir Putin along with the President of the Constitutional Court Marat Baglai, July 9, 2001

Some of Chief Justice Lebedev's awards at his farewell, 28 February 2024

• Russian Federation: The Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (2023)^[9]
• Russian Federation: Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class (2018)^[10]
• Russian Federation: Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (2003)^[11]
• Russian Federation: Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class (1998)'^[12]
• Russian Federation: Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class (2013)^[13]
• Russian Federation: Order of Alexander Nevsky (2012)^[14]
• Russian Federation: Decoration For Impeccable Service (2020)^[15]
• Russian Federation: Honoured Lawyer of Russia (1993)^[16]
• Russian Federation: Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honour (2008)
• Chechen Republic: Order of Akhmat Kadyrov (2011)
• Ukraine: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2004)^[17]
• Kazakhstan: Order of Friendship, 1st class (2023)^[14]
• Kazakhstan: Order of Friendship, 2nd class (2012)^[18]
• Russian Orthodox Church: Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 1st class (2008)^[19]
• Russian Imperial Family: Knight of the Imperial Order of the White Eagle (2014)^[20]
• Russian Imperial Family: Knight Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of Saint Anna (2010)^[21]
• Russian Imperial Family: Recipient of the 400th Anniversary Medal of the House of Romanov (2013)
• Bulgaria: Honorary Doctor of the Sofia University (2007)
• Philippines: Honorary Doctor of the University of Santo Tomas (2006)