Article 204. Actions of the judge to prepare the case for court trial

The judge shall perform the following actions in order to prepare the case for court trial:

1) Resolve the issue of involving or joining the case of third parties and interview the third parties allowed to participate in the case, who make individual claims with respect to Article 203 of this Code;

2) Resolve the issue of representatives' intervention in the case;

3) Resolve the issue of prosecutor's participation in the case and involvement of the relevant State administration body in the court proceedings;

4) Resolve the issue of joining the case of co-plaintiffs, co-defendants and third parties, as well as resolve the issue of replacing the improper defendant,

5) Resolve the issue of summoning witnesses to the court session;

6) requests material, written, and digital evidence from organizations or citizens, or issues inquiries to the persons participating in the case granting the right to obtain this evidence for submission to the court;

7) Resolve — taking into account the opinion of the persons participating in the case — the issue of appointing an expert and engaging a specialist;

8) In urgent cases, carry out on-site inspection with notifying the persons participating in the case;

9) Send letters of request to other courts;

10) Explain to the persons participating in the case their procedural rights and obligations;

11) Resolve the issue of combining similar cases and disconnection of several claims into separate proceedings;

12) Resolve the issue of securing of suit and securing of evidence;

13) Take measures to reconcile the parties;

14) Resolve the issue of holding a court session by videoconferencing and explain to the persons participating in the case their right to participate in the court session.

The judge shall also perform other procedural actions to prepare the case for court trial.

Actions of the judge to prepare the case for court trial shall be formalized through the judge's ruling without summoning the persons participating in the case.