Excessive lengths of criminal proceedings and the lack of effective domestic remedies remain to be a structural problems of Ukrainian judiciary (as established in Merit v. Ukraine group of cases). The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CM) at its 1362nd meeting held on 3-5 December 2019 expressed a concern that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) continues to receive similar applications to find violations of art. 6 and art. 13 of the Convention. Likewise, the CM calls upon Ukrainian authorities, inter alia, to establish effective remedies in this respect.

To assist Ukrainian authorities with designing possible mechanisms of such effective remedies, the Council launches a comparative study on effective remedies to secure criminal proceedings within reasonable time in other Council of Europe member states. Once ready, it would serve as a reference information for Ukrainian authorities on possible solutions used in other countries.

The study will be prepared under the auspices of CoE Project “Human rights compliant criminal justice system in Ukraine”.