The Russian judicial system has a 99% conviction rate.

Posted by The Bulwark Daily, Sep 29, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 1 contradict5 support1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 70%

The Bulwark DailySep 29, 2026

The AP report (2024) states Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants, and acquittal figures from 2011 to 2023 (0.15% to 0.3%) are consistent with that.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What we found

Supports. AP (2024) reports that Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants in espionage and treason cases and generally.[1]

Supports. The Supreme Court figure cited by NPR shows 99.3% of nearly 800,000 criminal defendants convicted in the first nine months of 2010, consistent with a roughly 99% rate.[2]

Supports. Acquittal rates of about 0.2% to 0.3% reported by the Independent (2019), Oxford University Press (2023), and the Supreme Court data cited in a 2025 journal article imply conviction well above 99% of verdicts.[3][4][5]

Contradicts. Novaya Gazeta (2023) reports that about 80% of defendants become convicts once cases dismissed for other reasons are counted, so a 99% rate holds only when dismissals are excluded.[6]

Context. A 2026 analysis reports that non-jury conviction rates routinely exceed 95%, consistent with a very high rate though not identical to 99%.[7]