RTM Group: messaging became key evidence in 19% of criminal cases

Correspondence in instant messengers has become key evidence in 19% of criminal cases that have been considered in Russian courts over the past year, said RTM Group, a company of experts in the field of information technology and law. Experts say that correspondence is also widely used in civil, especially family, disputes, less often in arbitration courts.

“We are talking, first of all, about those of them (criminal cases.— “b”), which are associated with correspondence denoting agreements between the parties. These are criminal cases relating to the sale of drugs, bribery, extortion, ”the RTM Group said in a statement (quoted from “RIA News”).

In civil cases, the use of correspondence has increased by more than 100%. According to experts, if the correspondence is informative, then in 99% of cases the court will take it into account. The courts check the information “for admissibility and reliability, as well as whether they are comprehensive and exhaustive in order to decide on the case.”

RTM Group does not predict a further significant increase in the use of correspondence as evidence in criminal cases, as they become “hard to access” due to improvements in privacy tools in smartphones. “At the same time, within the framework of contractual relations, correspondence in messengers is increasingly recognized as significant, therefore, for arbitration and civil cases, its use will continue to grow,” experts say.

Leonid Uvarchev