THE COURTS ARE TRANSFERRING TO THE ONLINE SESSIONS

There is a saying, stating that “if one door is closed, then another one might be open” makes sense, and a pandemic is not an exception in this case. Due to the forced self-isolation, various online services began to develop actively: lectures, conferences, online yoga classes and even restaurant visits.

The judicial bodies have also begun to move to the Internet environment, conducting the online sessions. For example, in St. Petersburg, the arbitration justice was launched via Skype, and information on it appeared on the court’s website.

To participate in the online process, you should fill in the appropriate form through the “My Arbiter” service in 24 hours. The reason for the introduced measure was the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court and the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation, which indicated the possibility of holding court hearings by means of the video-conference communication (VCC).

It is worth noting that many judicial authorities have the technical ability to conduct a videoconferencing. The procedural law gives such a right if the party of the process cannot participate in the court session for objective reasons.

It is curious that the talks about the larger capabilities of the courts to conduct online sessions have started long before the coronavirus pandemic, however, due to technical difficulties and the lack of a real need for large-scale distribution, the initiative was not implemented.

Now, Themis has a real opportunity to go online and gain a foothold there – the sessions, conducted online, can simplify access to justice and save time and money of the participants of the process, if, for example, the court session takes place in another region. The new option will definitely be useful in the future.