Court hearings are, as a general rule, open to the public. We must accept that anyone can sit in on our trial as an observer.
However, we should be careful not to invite friends, relatives or acquaintances. On the one hand, because judges do not like this, and on the other hand, because we cannot always be sure whether any of them will be needed as witnesses later on. This could be prevented if they were present in the courtroom during the earlier stages of the trial.