Transparency, public and open trial as a guarantee of the completeness and effectiveness of judicial protection of human rights

Relevance. The right of the public to enter a courtroom is as old and ancient a legal institution as the trial itself. A closed court is not fully a “court” in its true historical and legal content. In general, the development of state legal institutions both in Russia and in foreign countries followed the path of publicity in the administration of justice, although there were periods during which instead of “justice” there was “retribution” in a regime closed from society. These circumstances pose new research challenges for legal science.

The purpose of this study is to attempt the author’s interpretation of the principles of transparency, publicity and open court at the present stage of the state and legal genesis of Russia.

Objectives. To reveal the intent of this article, the following tasks were set and solved: to determine the characteristics of the concepts of “publicity”, “publicity”, “openness”; identify their relationship with the constitutional functions and social purpose of justice.

Methodology. The methodological basis of the study includes general and special methods and techniques that have been developed and tested by modern legal science: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, dialectical approach.

Results. This study allows us to substantiate the point of view that the state and law only during the latest stages of the country’s history demonstrate a significant inclination towards transparency, publicity and openness, public involvement in public legal activities and support of partnerships between government and society.

Conclusion. An open court session presupposes the right to be present and observe what is happening in the courtroom for a wide range of people, with exceptions and exceptions that can only be established by law, which must comply with the criteria of Part 3 of Art. 55 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and can be verified by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation based on complaints from citizens and requests from government bodies.

1. Nechaeva L.A. Evolution of the principle of openness of legal proceedings in Russia and foreign countries. Vestnik Mezhdunarodnogo instituta ekonomiki i prava = Bulletin of the International Institute of Economics and Law. 2014;(3):27-32. (In Russ.)

2. Vilova M.G. Constitutional guarantees of the right to public trial. In: Voprosy sovremennoi yurisprudentsii: sbornik statei po materialam XLIX-L Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii = Issues of modern jurisprudence: collection of articles based on the materials of the XLIX-L International scientific and practical conference. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo SibAK; 2015. P. 38-44. (In Russ.)

3. Bumagin A.N. The principle of open trial in the system of constitutional principles of the judiciary and guarantees of the implementation of the constitutional right to judicial protection. Sovremennoe obshchestvo i pravo = Modern society and law. 2014;(4):37-48. (In Russ.)

4. Fransiforov Yu.V. The combination of publicity and secrecy during preliminary investigation and trial. Advokatskaya praktika = Advocates Practice. 2007;(4):9-14. (In Russ.)

5. Enygina T.A. The secret of the deliberation room as a necessary condition for the implementation of the principle of independence of judges. Novyi yuridicheskii vestnik = New Legal Bulletin. 2020;(7):40-51. (In Russ.)

6. Chaplinsky A.V. Public access to courtrooms. Zakonodatel'stvo = Legislation. 2011;(10):70-79. (In Russ.)

7. Tretyakova O.V. Mass media and the authority of justice. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul'turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki = Historical, Philosophical, Political and Law Sciences, Culturology and Study of Art. Issues of Theory and Practice. 2012;(7):200-209. (In Russ.)

8. Zakharov A.E. Persons participating in the case and other participants in the trial within the framework of consideration of cases under the CAS of the Russian Federation. Alleya nauki = Alley of Science. 2023;2(5):780-793. (In Russ.)

9. Kolosovich M.S., Chicherin Yu.S. Regulatory regulation of the openness of judicial proceedings during the judicial reform of 1864. Vestnik Volgogradskoi akademii MVD Rossii = Bulletin of the Volgograd Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2020;(3):130-139. (In Russ.)

10. Kaygorodov A.A. Current problems of the limits of limiting the publicity of judicial proceedings and the openness of the text of the judicial decision. Rossiiskoe pravosudie = Russian justice. 2010;(7):58-68. (In Russ.)

11. Burtseva A.D., Sokolova E.T. Problems of a judge's reputation in the modern world. NovaUm.Ru. 2019;(17):208-213. (In Russ.)

12. Vladykina T.A. Reputation of a judge in the Russian Federation. Rossiiskii sud'ya = Russian Judge. 2011;(9):21-34. (In Russ.)

13. Nazarov S.V. On the problem of assessing evidence based on the judge’s inner conviction. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskoi yuridicheskoi akademii = Vestnik of Saint Petersburg Juridical Academy. 2020;(4):89-90. (In Russ.)

14. Korshunova P.V. Legal culture and legal consciousness of judges: general theoretical aspects of the implementation of justice in Russia. Pravovaya kultura = The Legal Culture. 2020;(1):107-115. (In Russ.)

15. Anosova L.S., Agaltsova M.V. Publicity of court hearings: Russian experience through the prism of the European Convention on Human Rights. Konstitutsionnoe i munitsipal'noe pravo = Constitutional and Municipal Law. 2012;(3):66-79. (In Russ.)

16. Bumagin A.N. Constitutional and legal grounds for limiting the publicity of legal proceedings on moral grounds. Srednerusskii vestnik obshchestvennykh nauk = Central Russian Journal of Social Sciences. 2015;(2):119-130. (In Russ.)

17. Abrosimova E.B. Judicial power: transparency or confidentiality? In: Prava cheloveka: zakonodatel'stvo i sudebnaya praktika: sbornik nauchnykh trudov = Human rights: legislation and judicial practice. Moscow: Rossiiskaya akad. pravosudiya; 2009. P. 176-187. (In Russ.)

18. Efremova N.N. The evolution of the constitutional foundations of justice in official projects and acts in Russia in the 19th-20th centuries. In: Rossiiskii konstitutsionalizm v kontekste istoriko-pravovykh issledovanii: sbornik nauchnykh trudov = Russian constitutionalism in the context of historical and legal research: collection of scientific papers. St. Petersburg: Prezidentskaya biblioteka imeni B.N. El'tsina; 2014. P. 168-173. (In Russ.)

19. Isaeva A.A. Prohibition of insulting the religious feelings of believers and the implementation of human rights: comparative legal analysis. Konstitutsionnoe i munitsipal'noe pravo = Constitutional and Municipal Law. 2013;(4):37-46. (In Russ.)

20. Bakuntsev A.V. Speech by I.A. Bunin “The Mission of Russian Emigration” in the public consciousness of the era (based on materials from emigrant and Soviet periodicals of the 1920s). In: Yearbook of the House of Russian Abroad named after Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Moscow: Dom russkogo zarubezh'ya im. Aleksandra Solzhenitsyna; 2013. P. 268-278. (In Russ.)

21. Justus N.A., Petrova A.A., Sankov M.A. Censorship of the 20th century as a detrimental influence on the development of cultural life of the USSR. Simvol nauki = Symbol of Science. 2016;(11-2):62- 69. (In Russ.)

22. Polynov M.F. Reform activities of M.S. Gorbachev: the first stage of perestroika. 1985-1986. Problemy istorii i istoriografii = Problems of history and historiography. 2016;(4):251-267. (In Russ.)

23. Volgin E.I. Dismantling the one-party system in the USSR: political and legal aspects. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya = Bulletin of Moscow University. Series: History. 2016;(5):90-101. (In Russ.)

24. Yamots E.N. Access to justice in the context of the right to judicial protection and publicity of judicial proceedings. Vestnik Polotskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Ekonomicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki = Vestnik of Polotsk State University. Series D: Economic and Legal Sciences. 2015;(6):164-175. (In Russ.)

25. Gaponenko D.V. Changing the approach to legal regulation of the principle of publicity of judicial proceedings. In: Pravoprimenenie v publichnom i chastnom prave: materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii = Law enforcement in public and private law: proceedings of the International scientific conference. Omsk: Omsk. gos. un-t im. F.M. Dostoevskogo; 2023. P. 122-139. (In Russ.)

26. Osipova M.A. Publicity of justice: open and closed proceedings in criminal proceedings. Grazhdanin i pravo = Citizen and Law. 2010;(3):77-87. (In Russ.)