As part of the latest phase in the ongoing digitisation of the Belgian judicial system, all criminal files can now be accessed online by lawyers and citizens who are entitled to view them.
Since June last year, sensitive files on cases such as murder, sexual violence and intra-family violence have been made available online because of the impact the facts have on the victims, who can now consult them in a more private setting rather than in a court registry.
Now, all those involved in criminal cases, from victims and their relatives to lawyers and suspects can consult their files digitally via a secure online environment on the JustConsult web application, the central access point of the Justice Department.
"With the digital criminal file, justice takes another step in its digital transformation. Citizens and lawyers will have access to their files at any time of the day," Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister of Justice, noted in a statement.
In recent months, tens of thousands of criminal records were added to the online registry with the help of 134 job students who put 12.5 million pages through the scanners at the clerks' offices.
Additionally, all files at the investigating court will now be available digitally, as well as all files on murder, sexual violence and intrafamily violence at the public prosecutor's office, resulting in the number of digitally available files rising from about 1,600 to about 50,000 files.
It signals an end to the previous archaic system, which previously required people to go through the infamously bureaucratic court registry and which could charge up to €1,450 for people to see the files.
"In the next phase, files will be created digitally from the outset and will no longer need to be scanned," the statement concluded.
"The ultimate goal is a digital court file in which all incoming and outgoing documents are processed digitally and are accessible to citizens and lawyers."
