The Supreme Court discussed creation of a database of Ukrainian court judgments in cases related to war crimes

Oleksandr Marchuk, President of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, and Nataliia Antoniuk, Vice President of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, participated in a coordination meeting between representatives of the judiciary and the USAID Justice for All Program on the implementation of a project to create a database of Ukrainian court decisions on war crimes.

The meeting presented an initiative to create an electronic database for this category of cases and provided examples of similar projects already implemented in other countries.

The President of the Criminal Cassation Court stressed the importance and relevance of creating a separate database reflecting the case law of national courts in war crimes cases. He also expressed his own vision of the resource's content.

"In order to ensure comprehensive coverage, completeness and objectivity of war crimes case law, it is necessary to include all decisions of Ukrainian courts in the database," said Oleksandr Marchuk, noting the importance of involving experts who can provide professional assessment (commentary) on court decisions.

According to the President of the Court, it is also necessary to cooperate with the Prosecutor General's Office to ensure a thorough updating of the database and the full implementation of the project.

According to Nataliia Antoniuk, Vice President of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, the creation of a single resource where lawyers could read decisions in high-profile war crimes cases is appropriate, given the public attention both in Ukraine and abroad to this category of cases. Indeed, Ukrainian lawyers are making a significant contribution to the development of international humanitarian and criminal law. Nataliia Antoniuk believes that in order to fully understand the specific cases that will be included in the resource, it will also be possible to refer to media information published in open sources about a particular war crime. This will help to build a more complete picture of the proceedings considered by the courts.

At the end of the event, Oleksandr Marchuk noted that active cooperation of the judiciary, in particular the Supreme Court, the Council of Judges of Ukraine and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, is important for the creation of a specialised database. Only in this way will it be possible to create a joint product that reflects the overall concept of the judiciary's vision.

The discussion was joined by representatives of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the National School of Judges of Ukraine, and the USAID Justice for All Program.