Actions of national courts in war crimes proceedings should be in line with international standards of justice - President of the Supreme Court

To date, the courts have received over 1,500 criminal proceedings for crimes of aggression and war crimes. More than a thousand of them have been considered by the courts of first instance, and decisions in some of these cases have already been reviewed on appeal and even in cassation. In this way, Ukrainian courts are developing a well-established case law for this category of cases. In this context, a logical question arises: if the national judicial system can handle war-related criminal proceedings, what is the reason for the need to create a special international tribunal?

Stanislav Kravchenko, the President of the Supreme Court, drew attention to this fact at the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Special Tribunal. Reintegration of Crimea and all temporarily occupied territories. War crimes. Compensation mechanism".

According to the head of the Supreme Court, the need to create a special international tribunal is primarily determined by the necessity to ensure justice in society. At the same time, if criminal proceedings against those who made decisions to launch an aggressive war against Ukraine are considered within the national system, these persons will be inaccessible both in the process of consideration of the proceedings and for the execution of the court decision, which in turn will not ensure the achievement of the goal.

Stanislav Kravchenko also pointed out that the Ukrainian judicial system has adapted to the realities of the situation and continues to perform the functions of ensuring justice assigned to it by law. "In 2022, the number of proceedings decreased significantly. Instead, we expect this year's figure to be close to the pre-war level of 3.5 million proceedings. In other words, despite the difficult conditions created by the full-scale war, citizens continue to seek protection of their rights in the courts. This proves that the level of legal awareness of Ukrainians remains extremely high," said Stanislav Kravchenko.

In addition, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, more than 118,000 crimes of aggression and war crimes have been registered to date. The President of the Supreme Court is convinced that all efforts should now be directed primarily at recording the traces of such crimes. This will make it possible in the future to bring the perpetrators to justice and to ensure compensation for the damage caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Stanislav Kravchenko also explained the importance of national courts adhering to international standards of justice in war crimes proceedings. This is a prerequisite for the judgments of Ukrainian courts to be perceived as fair in the civilised world.

The President of the Supreme Court recalled that on 7 April 2002, representatives of the Supreme Court participated in a meeting initiated by the President of Ukraine to address the international community on the need to establish an international special tribunal. The Supreme Court continues to support this initiative, as even if a small number of proceedings are heard by the special tribunal, it will serve as an example for national courts.

In conclusion, the President of the Supreme Court stressed that the Ukrainian judicial system will continue to be guided by the standards and forms of justice recognised by the international community in order to achieve the common goal of prosecuting war crimes, reintegrating the temporarily occupied territories, developing a compensation mechanism, etc.

The event was organised by the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with the support of the Office of the President of Ukraine.