Weekly Digest. Top news of EU Project Pravo-Justice (19 February – 03 March 2024)

Meet the third issue of Weekly Digest – Top News of EU Project Pravo-Justice from 19 February to 3 March 2024.

• On February 23, with support provided by EU Project Pravo-Justice, a working meeting was held between the representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the heads of district prosecutor’s offices on implementing the Concept of Cooperation between Prosecutor’s Offices and Communities. They discussed further steps on how to implement the Community Prosecutor project in Ukraine.

According to Oleksandra Dermanska, Key Expert on Public Prosecution Office Reform of EU Project Pravo-Justice, who also participated in the event, the Community Prosecutor initiative plays an essential role in the development of a human-centred approach to the functioning of public prosecution offices.

“A human-centred approach to the functioning of the criminal justice system institutions puts protecting people’s interests and ensuring their security first. That is why it is important to roll out the Community Prosecutor project in Ukraine to overcome the challenges associated with the consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Moreover, the initiative is aimed at practical implementation of European principles for the activities of prosecutors and law enforcement officers,” emphasised Oleksandra Dermanska.

• On February 24-25, EU Project Pravo-Justice, together with the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine held another strategic session for the Department of International Legal Cooperation of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The strategic session was dedicated to discussing how to improve performance, automate workflow processes, and develop the Department’s strategic vision. In particular, the event attendees worked intensely on improving mutual legal assistance and extradition activities, especially concerning international crimes.

“After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the focus of cooperation related to international legal assistance and extradition has shifted towards EU Member States. Therefore, having a powerful and efficient Department is essential for effective international cooperation in criminal matters in line with the current international legal framework. EU Project Pravo-Justice will continue to support the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to achieve this goal,” said Tinna Goletiani, Senior International Expert, Fight against International Crimes Sub-Component Lead.

• On February 29, an international conference “United for Justice. United for Heritage”, dedicated to numerous cases of destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage because of the Russian aggression, took place in Kyiv.

According to Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin, the full-scale military invasion has already resulted in the damage or destruction of more than 900 objects of cultural heritage of Ukraine for a total amount of about $19 billion. Moreover, the Prosecutor General reported that more than 60 investigations into crimes against cultural heritage are currently underway.

“Massive and deliberate nature of these crimes is another evidence of the Kremlin’s intentions to carry out genocide against the Ukrainian people. This is what genocide looks like. This is the intention to kill our citizens every day. This is the intention to deprive us of our future by deliberately kidnapping tens of thousands of our children from Ukraine. This is also the intention to erase our history by destroying our cultural heritage,” Andrii Kostin said.

• On March 1, an international conference entitled “Effective Self-Governance as a Powerful Consolidating Factor for Private Enforcement Officers” organised by the Association of Private Enforcement Officers of Ukraine with the support of EU Project Pravo-Justice took place in Chernivtsi.

• On March 2, the Advisory Group of Experts started conducting interviews with candidate justices of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. All interviews will be broadcast live on the online resources of the AGE and the CCU.