New technologies in the court: Remote hearings and hybrid interpreting during the pandemic

Abstract

Fair trial is the cornerstone of all judicial proceedings and a fundamental right guaranteeing, among other things, the right to interpreting to those who do not understand and speak the language of the court. With the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, courts around the world struggled to continue adjudication, turning to the solution of remote hearings and hybrid interpreting to comply with requirements of both health policy and the right to linguistic presence in judicial proceedings. This paper describes the solutions applied in domestic, international and EU courts, shedding light on the shortcomings of remote hearings and their possible detrimental effects on interpreting and fair trial.