| Vyacheslav Lebedev | |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Order: | Chief Justice of the Russian Federation |
| Nominator: | Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin |
| Term Start: | 25 December 1991 |
| Term End: | 23 February 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Office established |
| Successor: | Pyotr Serkov (acting)[1] Irina Podnosova |
| Office1: | Chief Justice of the Russian SFSR |
| Term Start1: | 26 July 1989 |
| Term End1: | 16 December 1991 |
| Predecessor1: | Yevgeny Smolentsev |
| Successor1: | Office disestablished |
| Office2: | Chief Judge of the Moscow City Court |
| Term Start2: | 6 September 1986 |
| Term End2: | 11 October 1989 |
| Predecessor2: | Lev Almazov |
| Birth Date: | 14 August 1943 |
| Alma Mater: | Moscow State University (Faculty of Law) |
| Death Place: | Moscow, Russia |
| Resting Place: | Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev (Russian: link=no|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]
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]
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.
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]
Ukraine: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2004)
Kazakhstan: Order of Friendship, 1st class (2023) Kazakhstan: Order of Friendship, 2nd class (2012)
Bulgaria: Honorary Doctor of the Sofia University (2007)
Philippines: Honorary Doctor of the University of Santo Tomas (2006)