The EU Project Pravo-Justice and the National School of Judges launched an online training on war crimes investigation

On November 1, the EU Project Pravo-Justice in cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU) launched an online course "Investigation and trial of international crimes and serious violations of human rights" for 25 participants - judges and prosecutors, as well as judge-trainers NSJU who plan to work with the topic of war crimes.

Bohdan Monich, Chairman of the Council of Judges of Ukraine, thanked the EU Project Pravo-Justice for the invitation to participate in the presentation of the training course.

"War crimes are not cases in which the judicial system of Ukraine had significant experience or established practice, but we acquire it against our own will. These cases will become the background on which the work of the international tribunal will be based in the future. It is important that judges and prosecutors ensure flawless trials of these cases," - Bohdan Monich emphasized.

Stanislav Kravchenko, Head of the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, thanked the international experts of the Project for their support and organization of the course.

"The topic of investigation and trial of international crimes is under the close attention of the Criminal Court of Cassation. At the same time, we need the help of international experts. After all, it is necessary to analyze the international experience at the beginning of the formation of the indictment and give references to the relevant conventions. This is, let's say, implementation not only in national legislation, but specific court decisions," - Stanislav Kravchenko noted.

Liliya Hutsal, Director of the Kharkiv Regional Branch of the NSJU, emphasized that the course is timely and meets the challenges that have arisen before the Ukrainian judicial system due to the Russian invasion.

"The question of a qualified investigation of war crimes is very urgent in the conditions of martial law. Therefore, NSJU pays considerable attention to this topic, which is new for Ukraine, and conducts a number of initial events. The experience of international colleagues is especially valuable for us," - said Liliya Hutsal.

Anna Adamska-Gallant, Key International Expert on Judicial Reform of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, expressed the readiness of the Project to provide assistance to Ukrainian judges and prosecutors to deepen their understanding of the principles of international criminal law, prosecution for war crimes.

"The war is not over yet, but Ukrainian judges and prosecutors are already working on investigations of such cases. We tried to make this course as practical as possible. After all, all the trainers of the course have extensive international experience in the consideration of such cases and their investigation. We want to share this experience with our Ukrainian colleagues," - said Anna Adamska-Gallant.

The trainers of the first module on the principles of international humanitarian law and the foundations of international crimes were international experts Gary Collins and Cornelis Verhaeren.

During the course, it is planned to consider topics related to forms of responsibility for international crimes, strategies and procedures of war crimes investigation, methods of interviewing vulnerable witnesses, as well as defense strategies used in war crimes cases.