Within the second component on improving courts treatment of the poor and socially vulnerable (Project "Strengthening Access to Justice for the Poor and Socially Vulnerable") a focus group with the justices of peace and the court secretaries was organized in St.-Petersburg on 6th of November, 2009. The aim of this focus group was to introduce to the participants the tasks and goals of the court hearings monitoring. This monitoring is a critical activity within the second component of the Project.
In the focus group ten Justices of Peace and eight court secretaries have participated. The focus group was opened by the Project Director Olga Sidorovich who presented the goals and the first results of the Project. Then the Project Expert Lev Ivanov demonstrated the interdependence and significance of the Project components. A director of the working group Lyubov Ezhova presented the main goals and methodology of the monitoring.
The monitoring will commence in December, 2009 and finish in March, 2010. During the monitoring 40 specially trained observers will conduct monitoring in twenty districts of Leningrad and Perm Regions. During the monitoring 80 cases will be subject to the full monitoring (which encompass the whole court process from the submission of the application to the judgments rendering) and 1800 will be subject to the general monitoring (only court proceedings will be monitored). The unique feature of the monitoring is its complex nature, which implies that it will also include interview with the litigants, attorneys and secretaries of the court.
During the second part of the focus group the discussion on the monitoring methodology voiced the justices and court secretaries’ comments, possible difficulties and the ways to overcome them.
Program (available only in Russian)