ST. PETERSBURG, May 27 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The first ever court hearings in their entirety have been held online in St. Petersburg; the participants have registered via a governmental website of state services, what enabled distant identification, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts informs RAPSI.

Thus, a session of the Kolpinsky District Court of St. Petersburg has become a presentation of the Universal platform for courts and litigation participants Court Portal.

The system is accessible via computers, notebooks, tablet PCs, and smartphones. For instance, some participants accessed the hearings via mobile phones. The system took about two months to develop and is unique in Russia, as it has been introduced in St. Petersburg only as to date. Its main feature is a safe and sound procedure of identification, what permits anyone to monitor the proceedings after being registered on the governmental website.

Judges can use the Court Portal to plan the hearings, appoint participants, give them notices; all participants have an opportunity to immediately exchange files among each other. The system uses technical infrastructure and dedicated servers deployed in the territory of Russia; audio and video streams are encrypted and recorded in real time.