Tip #1. Keep an audio recording of the court session
All persons participating in the case and citizens present at the open court session are granted the right to record the course of the trial in writing, as well as by means of audio recordings. Photography, video recording and broadcasting of the court session on radio and television are allowed with the permission of the court.
For this reason, a person participating in the case (plaintiff, defendant, third party) can make an audio recording without asking permission from the court in an open court session (there are also closed ones, the court must announce this at the beginning of the meeting). This type of recording of the course of the court session is not mandatory for the trial, however, a dictaphone defiantly lying on the table of one of the persons involved in the case “disciplines” all participants in the process.
For the sake of persuasiveness, you can declare the audio recording of the court session at the beginning of the court session. But the main purpose of such a record is further assistance in preparing for the next court session in the event that the current one is postponed. And if you have to bring comments to the minutes of the court session, you can check it with the audio recording.
Tip #2. Get up, the Court is coming! Observe the order in the court session
Directly to the order in the court session, the procedure that describes how participants in the court session should behave.
I will not dwell in detail, because from the content of the article itself, the rules of conduct in the courtroom will be understandable to an unprepared reader, and I will focus only on some rules that can have serious consequences for the participants in the process.
Firstly, the witness is criminally liable for giving knowingly false testimony and for refusing to testify, about which a subscription must be taken from the witness before the interrogation. But at the same time, a witness has the right to refuse to testify under Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (“No one is obliged to testify against himself, his spouse and close relatives, whose circle is determined by federal law”). The plaintiff and the defendant are not warned about such responsibility, since it is assumed that it is the right of the plaintiff or the defendant to give explanations, and not an obligation, and this is their position on the case (which can be interpreted as the impossibility of bringing to criminal responsibility for this).
Secondly, the criminal law provides for liability if a participant in the case (including the plaintiff or defendant) falsified evidence.
The Law also provides grounds for criminal prosecution for contempt of court. Contempt of court is recognized as actions expressed in insulting participants in the trial or the same actions against a judge, juror or other person involved in the administration of justice.
Tip #3. Declare the taps correctly
It is a common opinion that if a person participating in the case does not like the judge presiding over the court session, then such a judge can be challenged and the judge will be replaced. That’s not so. The Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation contains an exhaustive list of grounds for recusal of a judge. The following circumstances are recognized as such :
during the previous consideration of this case, the judge participated in it as a prosecutor, secretary of the court session, representative, witness, expert, specialist, translator;
the judge is a relative or relative of any of the persons involved in the case, or their representatives;
the judge is personally, directly or indirectly interested in the outcome of the case, or there are other circumstances that cast doubt on his objectivity and impartiality.
However, the application for recusal of the judge considering the case alone is considered by the same judge whose recusal is declared. In practice, this leads to the fact, and this will be confirmed by any practicing lawyer, that applications for recusal are almost never satisfied by judges. At the same time, if the participant is sure that there are grounds for the recusal of a judge or other participant in the process, it is necessary to declare the recusal.