decrees and resolutions and to later verify their execution. All organisations were obligated to follow the decrees and resolutions issued by the All-Union Council of Ministers. The All-Union Council also had the power to suspend all issues and decrees made by itself or organisations subordinate to it. It coordinated and directed the work of the republics and their ministries, state committees and other organs subordinate to the All-Union Council. Finally, the competence of the Council of Ministers and its Presidium in their procedures and activities (and its relationship with subordinate organs) was defined in the Soviet constitution by the law on the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. President and the Cabinet (1991) In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev created the office of the President of the Soviet Union, the head of the executive branch. In the meantime, the Council of Ministers was dissolved and replaced by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The new cabinet was headed by the Prime Minister. Gorbachev's election as President marked the third time in one year he was elected to an office equivalent to that of Soviet head of state. He was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies on all three occasions. Judicial branch The Supreme Court was the highest judicial body in the country as it supervised the administration of justice by the courts of the Soviet Union and its soviet republics within the limits of established law. The leadership of the Supreme Court was elected by the Supreme Soviet. The exceptions were the Chairmen of the Supreme Courts of the Soviet Republics, who were ex officio members. The organisation and the procedures of the Supreme Court were defined by law. As written in Article 157 of the Brezhnev Constitution, "[j]ustice is administered in the USSR on the principle of the equality of citizens before the law and the court". In the following articles, it was made clear that all individuals (no matter their circumstances) had the right to legal assistance. All judicial proceedings in the Soviet Union were conducted in the language of the Soviet republic, "Autonomous Republic, Autonomous Region, or Autonomous Area, or in the language spoken by the majority of the people in the locality". People who participated in court proceedings without knowledge of the language had the right to become fully acquainted with the materials in the case, the right to an interpreter during the proceedings