Audio/video recordings of court sessions to become compulsory in Moldova

Chisinau, 19 August /MOLDPRES/ - Courts are obliged to notify the participants in the trial and their representatives in written form about the fact that they may receive copies of the audio and/or video recordings of the court session. This provision is contained in a draft on amendment of the criminal procedure code and civil procedure code, approved in Chisinau today.

The draft also stipulates that, after the court session, the audio and/or video recordings of the latter are used by the clerk "to check the exactness of the proceedings."

According to the amendments due to be considered and adopted by the parliament, all the court sessions will be audio and/or video recorded. Presently, the judge may decide on not making the recording of the session, if the use of audio or video means is not possible. The amendments proposed by the Justice Ministry aim at "enhancing the transparency and efficiency of the judicial system."    

In 2009, with the financial support of the Millennium Challenge Account, all the court rooms of Moldova were endowed with audio recording equipment. Subsequently, it was ascertained that "a good deal of the courts" were not using this equipment. Namely the ignoring by courts of audio recording systems prompted the Justice Ministry to come up with measures aimed at implementing these systems. The audio recording of the court sessions is provided for in the agreement on financing the justice reform by the European Union.

(Reporter V Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)