The effective functioning of the national judiciary is the foundation of the rule of law and the constitutional order in the state - SC President

Undoubtedly, the role of the courts in this aspect has become even more important against the backdrop of a large-scale war, in which an imbalance in the work of state bodies could lead to irreparable consequences.

This was emphasised by President of the Supreme Court Stanislav Kravchenko during the international conference "The Constitution in the Context of War and Post-War Reconstruction: Current Challenges and Legal Solutions", organised by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine jointly with the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine and the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine.

According to the SC President, under martial law, the judiciary has faced a number of unprecedented challenges related to security risks, the temporary occupation of certain settlements, the destruction of the material and technical base of some courts, and the need to adapt work processes to the current conditions. However, despite these difficulties, it has managed to demonstrate its ability to function effectively and cope with its tasks.

This is clearly evidenced by statistics: national courts of all instances and jurisdictions consider more than 4 million proceedings per year. Among them are criminal proceedings for war crimes, of which more than 170,000 have been registered to date, which means that this is a significant amount of work for the judicial system, which must ensure both proper judicial control at the pre-trial investigation stage and consideration of these proceedings on the merits.

In this context, Stanislav Kravchenko noted that the Supreme Court has already formed certain approaches to solving legal problems faced by courts when considering this category of proceedings. Thus, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court has formulated an opinion in which it provided clear criteria for determining the subject of the crime under Art. 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (planning, preparation, initiation and waging of an aggressive war). In addition, the case law of the Supreme Court has also developed legal positions on certain aspects of criminal proceedings under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war) and crimes against the foundations of national security.

According to the President of the Supreme Court, in addition to providing criminal law mechanisms of protection, the judicial system's equally important tasks in the context of war are the proper and timely consideration of administrative disputes between citizens and the state and the resolution of disputes in the field of civil and commercial legal relations.

In summary, Stanislav Kravchenko emphasised that national courts are and will continue to be the guardians of the constitutional order of the state and the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.