Moot Court

On June 26, the conference hall of the PASO hosted a mock criminal trial of the Young Lawyer's School. It was attended by students of the School, as well as practicing lawyers. The trial was conducted by the head of the Togliatti branch of the School, V. I. Yankina, as a judge. During the mock trial, a real criminal case was considered on charges of two doctors and an intermediary under Part 5 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - receiving a bribe for an unjustified deferment from military service to a conscript.

The event was preceded by lengthy preparation, during which students of the Young Lawyer's School analyzed the criminal case, developed positions, prepared testimony for the investigation, interrogated witnesses in court, collected characterizing materials on the defendants, and spoke in the debate.

The training process was opened by the President of the PASO, T. D. Butovchenko. She wished all participants to prove themselves with dignity and professionalism and gain new knowledge from the process.

Based on the materials of the mock criminal case, the defendants' positions diverged during the investigation - one doctor did not admit guilt and actively proved his innocence; the second one partially admitted it, and the defense petitioned for reclassification; the mediator remained silent until the very end. During the hearing, the court had to listen to witnesses, whose roles were played by interns and practicing lawyers, including interrogating an out-of-town witness via videoconferencing. The technical capabilities of the PASO conference room made it possible to organize a video link using an LED screen and completely recreate the interrogation of a witness who was in a court in another city.

Despite the fact that the hearing was staged, preparation for the trial was almost no different from work on a real case. It involved lawyers and interns from Samara and Tolyatti, which, on the one hand, created difficulties in organization. On the other hand, it brought the trial closer to reality in that not all participants could agree on their positions and testimonies before the hearing. Some did not even know each other before the hearing.

During the training, the participants had to immerse themselves in the specifics of the activities of not only a lawyer, but also a doctor, since according to the terms of the business game, two of the three defendants were dermatovenerologists, and there were also medical workers among the witnesses. The actors playing the roles of doctors and a conscript patient studied in detail the characteristics of the disease "atopic dermatitis" and its treatment, clinical recommendations of the Ministry of Health and Standards, and even went to a real dermatovenereological dispensary to see with their own eyes how a doctor's working day goes.

The training session ended with a verdict, according to which two defendants were sentenced to a punishment not related to imprisonment, and the third was acquitted.

The results of the process were summed up by the President of PASO T.D. Butovchenko. She noted the strengths and weaknesses of each presentation and congratulated all the participants on the successful event. Working on such large projects is of great importance for training interns and helps them to apply and master the skills necessary to work as a lawyer from their own experience.

PASO Press Center