Russian Federation

[RU] Online broadcast rules for criminal proceedings adopted

IRIS 2017-6:1/29

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted on 15 March 2017 amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation (No. 174-FZ of 18 December 2001) that significantly affect online reporting of court trials.

In particular, paragraph 5 of Article 241 of the code  (“Openness”) (see IRIS plus 2014-2, p.8) now has an addendum that states: “transmission of an open court session via radio, television or online shall be admissible only with the permission of the presiding justice of the court. Transmission of an open court session at the pre-trial stage via radio, television or online shall be prohibited.”

If permitted the actions to provide such transmissions, as well as filming and photography of the trial, shall not violate the court order and the court has the right to limit the time of the broadcast or specify the exact spot from where these actions may be conducted, taking into account the opinion of the participants in the trial (new paragraph 5 of Article 257 “Regulations of the Court Proceedings”).

Paragraph 5 of Article 259 (“Minutes of the Court Proceedings”) was amended to prescribe that in the case of transmission of the trial the official court minutes shall record the title of the mass media outlet or of the website used for the transmission.