Arbitration courts will receive systems for online broadcasting of hearings / D. Grishkin / Vedomosti

RUB 80 million will be spent on purchasing 200 sets of software and hardware systems for audio-video recording, protocoling and online broadcasting of court hearings. They are intended for arbitration courts in more than two dozen regions, as well as appellate courts, according to the tender documentation published on the public procurement website by the Information and Analytical Support Center of the State Automated System "Justice" (FSBI IAC of the Judicial Department). Six such systems, for example, are planned to be installed in the arbitration court of the Chechen Republic.

The technology allows not only to record the audio of the court hearing, but also to organize its online broadcast on the court’s official website.

A person close to the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court says that the purchase is being made as part of the implementation of the Federal Target Program for the Development of the Judicial System for 2013–2020, approved back in 2012. It was then that the main indicators for equipping arbitration courts with audio recording and broadcasting systems for court hearings were set. By 2018, 85 courts should be equipped with these systems, according to the current version of the program. The online broadcasting option is only provided for arbitration courts; in courts of general jurisdiction, only audio recording is planned.

The corresponding equipment was purchased in 2015 and 2016 – in fact, the program is nearing completion. Most courts have equipment that allows for online broadcasting of the hearing. The problem is the lack of legislation that clearly regulates the use of video broadcasting in practice, explains a source close to the Judicial Department of Vedomosti.

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Russia will receive a $460 million loan from the BRICS Development Bank for the development of infrastructure and the introduction of information technologies in the judicial system as part of the state program for its development until 2020.

According to amendments to the Arbitration Procedure Code, adopted by the State Duma only in July of this year, filming, photography, video recording or broadcasting of an arbitration court hearing are permitted with the permission of the judge. These actions may be limited in time by the court, must be carried out at places specified by the court and taking into account the opinions of the persons participating in the case.

Indeed, as follows from the documents published on the state procurement website, 340 software packages were purchased last year. Including five were purchased for the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, 21 for the Ninth Appellate Court and eight for the Tenth Appellate Court, and the absolute record holder was the Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Region - 46 packages, two were sent to Crimea. In 2015, 182 packages were purchased.

However, video broadcasting of court hearings is still the exception rather than the rule. In 2015, a system for online broadcasting of hearings of the Arbitration Court of Lipetsk Region was launched in test mode - channels from 19 courtrooms are available via the link, the broadcast is in real time. The page with the online broadcast was found on the website of the Twelfth Arbitration Court of Appeal (checks decisions of courts of Saratov, Astrakhan and Volgograd Regions).

Active lawyers say that they have almost never encountered online broadcasts of court hearings. Vadim Zaripov from Pepeliaev Group recalls that the Supreme Arbitration Court started doing this, including on its website, and this option was in great demand. But after its liquidation, the leadership of the judicial system has shown no interest in greater openness of legal proceedings. Meanwhile, the ability to remotely monitor the progress of legal disputes would mean a revolution in the legal world, the expert is sure.

Arbitration courts to receive systems for online broadcasting of hearings