Priority Areas of Cooperation Between the Council of Europe and the Judiciary of Ukraine Are in the Focus of the SC President’s Visit to Strasbourg

On June 23, 2022, during a working visit to Strasbourg, the President of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniaziev met with representatives of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ). The meeting was attended by Muriel Décot, Secretary to the CEPEJ, and Clemence Bouquemont, Head of the CEPEJ Co-operation Unit, as well as Iryna Hrihorieva, Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, and Lina Hubar, Head of the Division of International and Legal Cooperation.

One of the priority areas of cooperation between the CEPEJ and the judiciary of Ukraine is to improve the project on the introduction of remote justice in Ukraine. According to the CEPEJ representatives, the Commission's guidelines had been adapted to the format of online justice last year.

Vsevolod Kniaziev thanked the representatives of the CEPEJ for their work and said that judges of Ukraine actively applied the recommendations of the Commission in their daily work. He paid special attention to the importance of introducing remote justice in Ukraine in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion. Judges and scientists developed a corresponding draft law, but it was not supported by Parliament. However, the adoption of such a draft law is extremely important for Ukraine. Indeed, even territories where active hostilities are not taking place are under the constant threat of Russian missile strikes.

"The challenges facing the judiciary of Ukraine today are unprecedented, so we need to change our approaches to the functioning of the judiciary. The Supreme Court, in particular, and the judicial system of Ukraine in general are doing everything possible to ensure that everyone has the right to a fair trial throughout Ukraine,” the SC President said.

Possible ways for the Supreme Court to cooperate with the Council of Europe in the context of the war in Ukraine were discussed on the same day by the President of the Supreme Court and representatives of the Cooperation Programmes Division within the Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe. The meeting was attended by Lilit Daneghian, Deputy Head of the Division for Cooperation Programmes, Mariana Chicu, Head of the Unit on Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia, Andrii Kavakin, Project Co-ordinator of the Division for Cooperation Programmes, and Iryna Kushnir, Manager of the Council of Europe Project “Support for Judicial Institutions and Processes to Strengthen Access to Justice in Ukraine”.

In his speech, Vsevolod Kniaziev outlined the tasks facing the judiciary: resuming the work of human resources bodies - the HQCJ of Ukraine and the HCJ, ensuring the unity of case law, improving the procedure for selecting candidates for judges. According to the SC President, it is necessary to find such a mechanism for selecting candidates for judges which would help to fill a very large number of vacancies in the courts of Ukraine quickly and efficiently.

The participants of the meetings agreed to strengthen cooperation in all priority areas.