Presentation of expert study on prosecutor's participation in non-criminal proceedings takes place in the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court

The Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court hosted a presentation of the results of the expert study ‘The Case Law of the Supreme Court in Cases Involving the Prosecutor in Non-Criminal Proceedings’, conducted with the assistance of the USAID Justice for All Program. The event was attended by Supreme Court judges, national experts, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the National School of Judges of Ukraine, the Training Centre for Prosecutors of Ukraine, and representatives of international organisations and projects.

In his welcoming remarks, Borys Hulko, President of the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, noted that the discussion and implementation of the results of the expert study on the jurisprudence of the SC in cases involving the prosecutor in non-criminal proceedings is one of the methods aimed at ensuring the unity of case law, which is a fundamental function of the SC. He noted that the conclusions set forth in the expert study are highly valuable and will be taken into account by both the Supreme Court and lower courts of Ukraine when considering cases involving the prosecutor.

On behalf of the USAID Justice for All Program, Nataliia Petrova said that the study was conducted at the initiative of appellate court judges. The topic is relevant given the constitutional limitation of prosecutors' functions to the criminal justice sector, and only as an exception in certain cases can they go to court in the interests of the state.

The author of the study is Tetiana Tsuvina, Associate Professor at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, national expert of the USAID Justice for All Program, and member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Supreme Court. The analysis of the Supreme Court's case law in this category of cases was conducted taking into account the ECHR case law on ensuring the right to a fair trial.

Oksana Osadcha, Head of the Department for Representation of the State Interests in Court of the Prosecutor General's Office, welcomed the idea of the analysis and provided statistics.

The event was moderated by Vitalii Urkevych, Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. He noted that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the developments on the issue and outline the problems that should be addressed, exchange views and decide on the further development of case law. The Secretary of the SC GC said that there are many issues regarding the prosecutor's appeal to the court, starting with the court's verification of the grounds for the prosecutor's representation of the state's interests in court. He also noted that the report covers many of these aspects and draws attention to certain problematic issues that need to be resolved, in particular, at the level of the Supreme Court.