TRIAL PUBLICITY AS A SECURITY OF THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL

Abstract

This article analyzes the criminal procedural legislation, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, scientific approaches to determining the structure and characteristics of the criminal trial publicity as a separate element of the right to a fair trial. It is determined that requirement for a public trial includes the following aspects: open trial; oral court debates during the trial; open, public proclamation and publication of judgments. It is proved that the public nature of the trial is a fundamental principle of the court proceeding ensuring the fairness of the adopted judgment. Due to publicity, the justice and the trial gain legitimacy. During the public hearing of the case, the parties or stakeholders, as well as any third parties shall have access to the courtroom. The trial openness can be ensured by broadcasting the hearing or holding the photo and video shooting, as well as audio recording. It is determined that during the case consideration in the trial court the oral proceedings are mandatory, except in certain cases stipulated by law and justified by the circumstances of the case. Proceedings to challenge the judgments in appellate or cassation courts, which provide for consideration of the matter of law (and not the matter of fact) only, may be conducted without hearing the parties to the trial, provided that a public oral hearing of the case was held in the trial court. It is justified that the purpose of a public judgment proclamation is to ensure public control over the judiciary branch of power. When determining the form of the judgment promulgation, not a formal but an essential approach should be taken as the basis. In addition to oral public announcement of a judgment, the other methods of its promulgation allow achieving the goal. In Ukraine, the judgments are announced in court and published in the Unified State Registry of Judgments. There may be exceptions to the general publicity requirement stipulated by law and justified by specific circumstances of the case (categories of cases or peculiarities of the parties).