Purpose of a jury

The reason trial by jury is so important is not to get the facts right in an ordinary criminal trial. We've all seen cases where it failed to do that, cough OJ cough. Juries restrain the power of the king - or in this case the new czar - to imprison whoever he doesn't like.

Of course, of course, that's why Vladimir Putin's stand-in Dmitry Medvedev has ended it for national security trials. Hey, if America can have a small gulag without habeas corpus, why shouldn't Russia fire up its secret police again?