Did the accident really take place: Inspectors of traffic police will not avoid questioning in court. Westside’s partner Sergey Vodolagin quoted by “Pravo.ru” edition

Inspectors of traffic police, who compile protocols on administrative offences, rarely come to court. Judges do not always call up even witnesses, despite the fact that the "accusation" can be based only on their testimony. In one of such cases, a protocol and a medical certificate were enough for two instances to be sure of the guilt of the driver.  However, the Supreme Court threw it into question and drew attention to the weak evidence base.

Before finding a person guilty, the court must study all evidence publicly in order to procure adversariality of the process. The defendant must have the opportunity to challenge the testimony of the witness and to conduct an interrogation.

The act of the Supreme Court encourages the inferior instances to examine all evidence carefully, including calling witnesses, considers Sergey Vodolagin, partner of the law firm “Westside”: “Courts should not make judgementsfind formally, only on the basis of written submissions, which are available in the case”.

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