Russian Judge Falls Asleep in Courtroom

An internal investigation is being carried out in the Blagoveshchensk City Court after a video was published on YouTube showing a judge sleeping in a courtroom during court hearings. The judge is Deputy Chairman of the Court Evgeny Makhno. The video was posted by local blogger Vladislav Nikitenko who says he shot it during pleadings in a criminal case. According to Nikitenko, on waking up the judge convicted the defendant and sentenced him to five years in jail. "We need to check thoroughly when and how the record was made," Blagoveshchensk City Court Chairman Pavel Belousov commented. "This video revealed an important problem... : the colossal workload borne by judges," Belousov went on to add.

http://rg.ru/2013/01/16/reg-dfo/sudya-anons.html
http://www.newsru.com/russia/18jan2013/mahno.html
http://youtu.be/cDjnJxpjACs (video)




UPDATE: "Sleeping judge" resigns
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2013/01/30/judge/