Adjudication of international crimes: Supreme Court judges paid a study visit to the Netherlands

Mykola Mazur, Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, and Mykola Kovtunovych, Judge of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, as part of a delegation of Ukrainian judges, took part in a visit to The Hague (Netherlands) organised by the European Union Advisory Mission Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and dedicated to the trial of international crimes.

As part of the trip, the Supreme Court judges, together with a delegation of Ukrainian judges, visited the District Court of The Hague and talked to representatives of the Court about their experience in preparing judgments in cases of international crimes.

In addition, Ukrainian judges visited the Hague Court of Appeal, where they met with President Marieke Koek and discussed, among other things, the use of open source intelligence (OSINT) in criminal proceedings.

A meeting was held at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands with Dineke de Groot, President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. Ms. de Groot spoke about the important role of the judiciary's relationship with society and the proper administration of justice as a key element of cooperation between the International Criminal Court and the Netherlands given the common goal of preventing impunity for perpetrators of international crimes.

The Ukrainian delegation also got acquainted with the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, whose jurisdiction covers crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2000 and either committed or initiated in Kosovo by or against citizens of Kosovo or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Ukrainian judges learned about the main challenges in prosecuting and trying cases in Kosovo from the judges of this institution.

During the meeting on drafting court decisions with the Asser Institute experts, the Ukrainian delegation learnt about approaches to improving the drafting of court decisions in proceedings under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine through practical cases. SC representatives, together with the delegation of Ukrainian judges, also had the opportunity to visit the International Criminal Court and talk to the Court's representatives about the ICC's activities in Ukraine, the peculiarities of notifying the parties to a case whose whereabouts are unknown, and the ICC's approach to working with vulnerable groups of people. A meeting was also held to discuss the further functioning of the international Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.