This experience has been shared by Shrishma Dandekar, a student of GNLU, Gandhinagar.

When I first saw the AIESEC internship opportunity on Facebook, what captivated me were pictures of the Caribbean and I applied without any real optimism of getting selected. My interest piqued when my local manager approached me with some legal internships and I immediately applied for an internship with the Bar Council in Chelyabinsk, one of the largest cities of Russia. The main consideration for selecting this particular internship was that it offered me the strongest legal exposure out of all. Apart from this, Russia is culturally very assorted and yet, uncharted by regular people of many countries.

The fact that it was my first trip abroad, which comprised of my first flight experience, made the journey and the stay a bit more challenging. The first impression about Russia is that it is a very isolated country in terms of its socio-cultural outlook. English is a very abstruse language even though it is taught in schools. It is very difficult to get around since all the shops, malls, buses, boards, etc. are in Russian and the general public doesn’t have the basic grasp of English. The astonishing reality is that the people don’t have the slightest desire to learn English even though it is regarded as a necessity in this age of globalization. The average student is also unaware of the European economy crisis, the Middle East conflicts, American sitcoms and the events around the globe. There were two interns selected from India for this legal internship including me. Our main job was to hold lectures twice a week, for students of South Urals State University, about the Indian Criminal law and certain aspects of the Indian Constitution. Apart from this, we learned about the Russian legal system and the working of courts. We also worked part time at an English tutorial as guest lecturers.

Our lectures on law were attended by 15-20 students which are the more than the average number of students in a traditional class. The law degree is a four-year course in Russia and we had the chance to interact with students from every year. It took 2-3 lectures to get the students interested in the classes. The biggest setback was the language as we had to use an interpreter to get even the basic communication across. Soon, we did realize the benefit of having smaller classes, unlike the full classes in India. As there is a lot of potential for one-to one interaction, in next to no time we had a cosy, inquisitive class with equally curious teachers. We were always chaperoned by Leonty Marshava, who was a member of Chelyabinsk Bar council and we learnt a lot from him in five weeks. The best lessons were on the criminal laws of Russia. Though Russia has a substantive and procedural code for criminal law like IPC and CrPC in India, there are very fundamental differences in the same. In Russia, the office of the Public prosecutor is decorated and it is almost a parallel profession to an advocate.  Similarly, the general public isn’t allowed to attend the criminal proceedings in the district courts. However, as we were associated with the Bar Council, upon special permission, we were allowed to attend a trial for parole of a person accused of murder along with our interpreter.

The functioning of courts in Russia was seen to be starkly different from the Indian courts. For one, there was a lack of  the noisy audience. Upon entering the premises you are required to sit on a bench and check in a register. Then you have to go through a security check before going to the next level. This is where the proceedings take place. The accused is supposed to sit on a bench which is inside a small prison like structure. This is in contrast to India, where the principle of “Innocent until proven guilty” is followed. Seeing an undertrial behind bars almost seems like a violation of human rights. The prosecution and defence lawyer are seated side by side and present their arguments one after other. As far as questioning of the accused went, the job was done by the judge himself. Astonishingly, he not only interacted with the accused and asked his motive for killing the person but also shared a smile or two with him! This was rather an astonishing sight since in all our previous internships in courts in India, we have seen judges deal with matters impersonally and in a detached sense. During our one to one interaction with the judge, he clarified his attitude saying they try to look at all accused as humans but ultimately, they have to follow the book, We chalked this up to the fact that these judges are not as over-worked as judges in India are, which allows them to deal with each case with almost a serene patience. This was the only experience we had of seeing the judiciary in motion since it is a privilege in Russia. Apart from this, the bar council made sure we absorbed as much as we could about the legal system in Russia and its culture. After each of our lectures, we would be given a 40 minute presentation about the corresponding law prevailing in Russia. The important part of this internship was that it required us to do a thorough research on our own subjects since we had to make people understand the provisions right from their initiations to their current status. I believe we achieved a deeper insight regarding the laws of India, specially the criminal laws, during this period of six weeks.

The maximum impact on us was however, surviving practically alone in a country which is as different as it can be from our homeland. From language, food, transport to social graces, recreation methods, weather and skin colour, it was all in a stark contrast. We were used to being stared at on the streets and get requests from strangers for pictures in Russian. We quickly learnt how to use the public transport and communicate in basic Russian. However, this was a lesson learnt after getting lost a couple of times in the freezing weather without being able to explain where to go. Figuring out things in a country which widens eyes at your skin colour and where people don’t speak your language cloths you with tempered strength. The difficulties we faced acquainted us with the basic impulses of life. When something as mundane as weather poses one of the toughest challenges you have faced, you know you will grow when you come out at the other end. This internship taught us how to convey a subject in its entirety in a crisp manner, to make friends who are not your age and don’t have the same first language as yours and how everyone is intrinsically similar regardless of the country you come from. But most importantly, it taught us that clichés are true; if you believe in yourself,  there is absolutely nothing that can stop you from charting your path