Minister of Justice Waleed Al-Samaani

The Ministry of Justice has said that “remote trials” through video will begin at the start of next week in an effort to reduce the duration of litigation, and time and effort in achieving all judicial rights and guarantees of defendants and prisoners during the trial process.

The service will start at the Criminal Court in Riyadh and will gradually be applied to other courts with high numbers of cases.

Deputy Minister of Justice Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Omaira on Sunday launched a workshop in Riyadh on “defining the importance of remote trial of prisoners and positives and benefits of applying such trials for concerned authorities.”

The workshop was organized by the Judicial Training Center at the Ministry of Justice in Riyadh. He said the aim of the service is to speed up the finalization of cases remotely with ease and flexibility, while reducing time and effort.

He said that directives of Minister of Justice Waleed Al-Samaani, which were issued to concerned departments at the ministry, called for ongoing coordination with the General Directorate of Prisons at the highest level nine months ago, in order to complete preparations to launch the remote trial of prisoners. The directives also called for realizing all needs, preparations and implementation mechanisms to launch the service.

Deputy Minister for Judicial Affairs Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Abdulwahed bin Nuh said the launch of the two services, the remote trial service and the judicial succession service, will provide legal and regulatory guarantees to protect rights, noting that the two services maintain rights and facilitate means to realize such rights without compromising legal principles, and by benefiting from modern technology.

He said there has been coordination with the Directorate of Prisons to prepare a special building inside the public prison in Riyadh, equipped with all needs to realize the independence of trial. The center is under full supervision of the Criminal Court of Riyadh, and includes 20 trial rooms, offices for employees, waiting rooms, and rooms for visual communication.

“The Supreme Judicial Council previously approveed this method to conduct trials on the condition that certain requirements and safeguards are met to convene such trials. The ministry worked in coordination with the Directorate of Prisons to ensure such conditions are met,” he said.

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