The Representatives of the Criminal Cassation Court Within the Supreme Court and ICC Judge Howard Morrison Discussed In-Service Training of Ukrainian Judges

On November 3, 2022, Stanislav Kravchenko, President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, had a working meeting with Howard Morrison, a British lawyer, the UK Judge to the International Criminal Court based in The Hague (2011–2021).

The meeting was also attended by: Secretary of the Third Judicial Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court Herman Anisimov, Judge of the Third Judicial Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court Yurii Luhanskyi, Deputy Head of the Department for Analytical and Legal Work - Head of the Department for Legal Work (ІІІ) Hennadii Zelenov, Acting Head of the Division of International and Legal Cooperation of the Supreme Court Oksana Hunko.

Stanislav Kravchenko informed his British colleague about the place and role of the Supreme Court in the judicial system of Ukraine and noted that the task of the Criminal Cassation Court was not only to consider criminal proceedings in cassation, but also to ensure the consistency and unity of case law. He also spoke about the national criminal legislation, which regulates, in particular, offences against peace, human security, and international legal order.

According to him, despite the large number of registered crimes of aggression and war crimes (more than 43,000), there is a small number of real suspects (accused), because most of them are on the territory of the Russian Federation and today they are inaccessible to Ukrainian justice. The legislation of Ukraine allows for the use of a special procedure of criminal proceedings in the absence of the suspect or accused (in absentia), and case law in this procedure must be consistent with international case law.

The President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court remarked that Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on violation of the laws and customs of war referred to international conventions ratified by Ukraine. It is therefore very important that the provisions of the European conventions are correctly defined and applied by prosecutors at the stage of forming an indictment.

Stanislav Kravchenko emphasized that the judges of Ukraine had been preparing for the consideration of crimes against aggression and war crimes for a long time, analyzing European conventions and working out the first case law, laying the foundations for the future.

Howard Morrison said that it was his first visit to Kyiv, and the purpose of the visit was to discuss the further process of in-service training for Ukrainian judges who would deal with crimes against aggression and war crimes. This training will be funded by the UK government. He emphasized that the trainings would be held in order to draw the attention of judges to the features of international criminal and humanitarian law. The training course will include an overview of international criminal and humanitarian law, as well as consideration of special topics on holding the high command accountable, writing judicial sentences.

The British lawyer said that he had read our Criminal Code of Ukraine translated into English and was positively impressed by its quality, because the Code contained such offences as the crime of aggression, ecocide, etc. According to him, the criminal legislation of Ukraine contains so many things that international criminal law provides for. Therefore, he is convinced that any competent lawyer in the field of criminal law will very quickly master all the intricacies of international criminal law. And international humanitarian law will help to understand the scope of the Geneva Conventions. As far as a fair trial is concerned, Howard Morrison is convinced that it is a question of applying international law provisions and reflecting them in the judgment.

Stanislav Kravchenko replied that the judges of Ukraine perfectly understood what a fair trial was and were well aware of the threats to the national system if society considered the trial to be unfair. And part of that fair justice is proper defence, as well as effective trial and fair punishment.

The foreign guest thanked the Ukrainian colleagues for allowing to help in such a difficult time, and assured that the British legal system would do everything possible to better help Ukraine.

The President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court said that international support had always been important for Ukraine, and currently it was invaluable.