Doubts about court fairness and impartiality when making judgments in criminal cases as grounds for changing venue

The paper analyzes the social and legal value of the criminal procedure institution of venue of criminal cases, including the provisions that allow to change it. The paper considers the importance of the institution of jurisdiction ensuring the right to a fair trial. In addition, the differences in legislative approaches to the permissibility of changing subject matter jurisdiction and venue are highlighted. The paper examines the legal nature of the grounds for changing the venue associated with doubts about fairness and impartiality of the court when making a judgment in the case. Fairness and impartiality as requirements for the court are close in meaning. The evaluative nature of these categories determines the focus on the reasonableness and substantiation of judgments. The review provides a summary of case laws of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and appellate courts of general jurisdiction on changing the venue on these grounds. It is concluded that the most common grounds for changing the venue are circumstances related to the defendant’s personality, which may influence the activities of authorities at the venue of the criminal case and give rise to reasonable doubts about the legal consideration of the criminal case by the court and the validity of the verdict.