President of the Supreme Court held a meeting with representatives of the international organization Rule of Law Empowerment (ROLE)

The main topic of the conversation was the launch of the ROLE initiative to monitor the activities of courts, in particular the High Anti-Corruption Court. It concerns the assessment of the compliance of judicial practice with the standards of fair justice applied in the European Union, in the context of Ukraine’s European integration course. Based on the results of such monitoring, it is planned to prepare recommendations for improving judicial practice, taking into account international approaches in the field of the rule of law.

President of the Supreme Court Stanislav Kravchenko emphasized that the Supreme Court highly values the attention of the international community to the development of the national judicial system and the opportunity for open professional dialogue on problematic issues of its functioning. Such interaction, according to him, contributes to a deeper understanding of existing challenges and the search for effective solutions.

ROLE expert, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in 2015–2025 Armen Harutyunyan stressed that the organization’s initiative is primarily aimed at supporting Ukraine in implementing reforms on its path to EU membership, in particular through the preparation of independent expert opinions.

During the meeting, the participants discussed specific issues inherent in the current realities of administering justice in criminal proceedings regarding corruption criminal offenses, as well as the next steps in implementing the ROLE initiative. In particular, they talked about monitoring court hearings, analyzing court decisions in corruption and other categories of cases, and preparing reports on compliance with the standards of fair justice.

The meeting was also attended by Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Olha Buleiko, judges of the Supreme Court in the Cassation Criminal Court Natalia Bilyk and Oleksandra Yanovska, Deputy Head of the Department for Analytical and Legal Work of the Supreme Court Hennadii Zelenov, ROLE expert, member of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Matthew Gillett, Director of the “Human Rights” Charity Foundation Boris Zakharov, member of the board of the Association of Anti-Corruption Practitioners Karl Volokh, and lawyer, expert of the Association of Anti-Corruption Practitioners Semen Khanin.