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E-Justice in Russia
 
PIIS278229070019582-6-1
DOI10.18254/S278229070019582-6
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Vasily Laptev 
Occupation: chief researcher
Affiliation:
Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy of Sciences
Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Russia
Address: Moscow, Znamenka, 10
Journal nameLaw & Digital Technologies
EditionVolume 2 № 1
Pages24-34
Abstract

Electronic justice in Russia is part of the general trend of digitalization of public authorities.  The present work reveals the main elements of electronic justice in Russia at the current stage. The paper  examines trends and patterns in the development of electronic justice focusing on the needs of civil society and the business community. It also explores positive and controversial aspects of the introduction of digital technology in court. The study provides an overview of certain aspects of digital justice, requiring the state to ensure equal technological accessibility and elimination of digital inequality among participants of the judicial process. The research formulates the limits of the use of information technology in court, considering the technological accessibility to the electronic court. The present study forms a holistic view of the state of Russian electronic justice.

Keywordselectronic justice, electronic document management, electronic evidence, online courts, remote hearings, court bot, court cloud, artificial intelligence, cyborg judge
Received07.04.2022
Publication date30.06.2022
Number of characters45147
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Table of contents

INTRODUCTION
1. GENERAL PROVISIONS ON DIGITAL JUSTICE: CONCEPT AND CONTENTS
2. ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT IN COURT
3. ELECTRONIC WORKFLOW IN THE COURT
4. DIGITAL AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING OF COURT PROCEEDINGS. BROADCASTING THE SESSION
5. ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE
5.1. Electronic communications.
5.2. Electronic documents and other documents in electronic form
5.3. Digital audio, video and photo recordings
5.4. Information from Internet portals of public authorities and organisations (printouts and screenshots).
5.5. SMS messaging, business messengers and social networks.
5.6. Electronic copies (image) of a document.
5.7. Digital imprint of website content (web archives).
6. ELECTRONIC CASE REVIEW (E-REVIEW)
7. COURT NOTICED. ELECTRONIC DISPATCH OF JUDJMENTS
8. ONLINE SESSIONS. INTERNET COURTS
9. COURT CHAT-BOT
10. THE JUDICAL CLOUD
11. APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFFICIAL INTELLEGENCE IN COURT
CONCLUSION
1

INTRODUCTION
2 The development of electronic justice, as a priority in the activities of Russian courts, was noted at the IX All-Russian Congress of Judges (2016). Within the framework of this concept at the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation a number of laws were adopted. As a result of the reform of procedural legislation, the efficiency of justice has increased.
3 The Concept of Judicial Information Policy for 2020-2030, approved by the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation on December 5 2019, laid the foundation for improving the ways in which citizens, organizations, public associations, state and municipal bodies, and media representatives can access information about the activities of the courts. The Concept of Informatization of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated February 2, 2021, No. 9-P (Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 2021) defines directions for improving modern digital justice.
4 The issues of digitalization of Russian judicial proceedings have become the subject of numerous scientific and practical studies of legal scholars and practicing lawyers (Laptev and Solovyanenko 2017, 2019a). The constant development and variability of technological equipment of courts in Russia is noted in the periodical and specialized press, as well as in interviews with leading legal experts.
5 Digital justice has significantly facilitated the workload of the Russian courts. It made it possible to structure information on court cases, keep quick statistics and respond to issues arising in the work of the courts.
6 Powerful digital servers and archives (operational and backup) ensured reliable electronic storage of documents related to the activities of the Russian courts.
7

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS ON DIGITAL JUSTICE: CONCEPT AND CONTENTS

8 In Russia, the terms "electronic justice" and "digital justice" are often used as identical concepts. In practice, the terms "mobile justice", "remote justice", "cyberjustice", "online justice", and other definitions of traditional justice based on information technologies are also interchangeable.
9 Digital justice is a form of law enforcement activities of the judiciary to implement constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings using information and communication technologies and systems, including a single information space of courts, software for the automation of court proceedings (filing, processing and scanning of documents received by courts, formation of electronic cases and electronic archive of court cases, online sessions, artificial intelligence, and others), providing for the use of information and communication technologies.
10 Public speeches of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation V. Lebedev testify to the accelerated pace of transition of domestic courts to the electronic system of justice in the context of technological and other present-day challenges (RAPSI 2015; Alexandrov 2020).
11

Several legal scholars, in particular Romanenkova (2013), interpret e-justice (in the broad sense) as a set of various automated information systems - services that provide means for publishing judicial acts, conducting the "e-case" and the parties' access to the materials of the "e-case". Sharayev (2010) believes that e-justice can be seen as a way of administering justice based on the use of information technologies. Quite often the category of "e-justice" is disclosed through the enumeration and description of its separate elements (reflecting the openness of justice, electronic interaction between the participants of the process and the electronic case work in court) (Sharifullin et al. 2018). The above positions illustrate the basis of e-justice, for example, the digital technology.
12 Russian digital justice includes essential elements which were formulated and enshrined in the Concept of the Federal Target Program "Development of the Judicial System of Russia in 2013 - 2020" dated September 20, 2012, No. 1735-r; the Federal Target Program "Development of the Russian Judicial System for 2013-2020" dated December 27, 2012, No. 1406, the Concept of Judicial Information Policy for 2020-2030 dated December 5, 2019, and other acts. The increased number of cases heard in courts, which cannot be administered in traditional ways without the use of information technology, became a significant incentive for the development of e-justice. Thus, in 2020, courts of arbitration at all levels heard 1.5 million cases, and courts of general jurisdiction of first instance heard 29.5 million civil and administrative cases, as well as 530,000 criminal cases (Supreme Court of the Russian Federation n.d.).
13 The components of digital justice are:
  • court automation system1;
  • electronic document management, including electronic filing and processing of documents (statements of claim, complaints and other petitions) submitted to the court in electronic form;
  • scanning of incoming documents;
  • formation of electronic files and archives;
  • automated analytical support of the work of the courts;
  • personal accounts of those involved in the process;
  • establishment of technical conditions for ensuring electronic interaction of the courts of general jurisdiction with the information systems of the Office of the Procurator-General of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Bailiff Service, the Federal Penal Correction Service and others;
  • courts and the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will be equipped with software and key media for electronic document management with the use of an electronic signature.
The following elements are expected to emerge soon: - the creation of a cloud computing architecture to provide for the automation of court and general office workflow; - expanding the use of mobile devices as access to information resources, software systems and databases of arbitration courts using "cloud" technology for judges and court officials - mobile justice; - establishment of mobile judges' offices (special passenger minibuses) with the use of videoconferencing for mobile sessions in geographically remote areas of the country; - organization of incoming scanning of all documents received by arbitral tribunals and the formation of electronic cases (pilot project "Electronic Case"); - creation of an electronic archive for subsequent transition to electronic enforcement of judicial acts; - integration of court information platforms with information systems of public authorities; - creation of specialised legal electronic libraries in the courts; - creation of a single digital space of electronic signature trust is the basis for the future development of e-justice, including the single information space of the judicial system; - recording of the course of proceedings by means of audio recordings and the inclusion in the case file of discs, flash cards and other evidences in digital form, in accordance with the principle of one electronic data carrier for each case separately, and their cloud storage; - granting participants in the proceedings the right to consult case files in a cloud-based repository; - development of electronic identification and other means to ensure the security and reliability of electronic court procedures. 		1. Software and hardware complex providing for the conduct of court proceedings, recording in electronic form the results and progress of procedural actions performed by the court and other participants in court proceedings

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