On 19-20 March 2024 the Directorate of Programme Co-ordination of the Council of Europe within the Projects “Support to the Functioning of Justice in the War and Post-War Context in Ukraine”, “Fostering Human Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Ukraine” jointly with the National School of Judges of Ukraine and the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine within the framework of the project “Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts, Phase Two”, held in Kyiv a course for judges - trainers on the current case law of the European Court of Human Rights: criminal aspect.

The training was opened by Ms Tetyana Fuley, Head of the Department of scientific research of judicial issues and scientific and methodological support of judicial education of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, OSCE expert, who outlined the purpose and objectives of the training and focused on the importance of such an event for judges-trainers.

Ms Alisa Pietukhova, Project Manager of the Council of Europe Project “Fostering Human Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Ukraine”, also addressed with a welcoming speech. She stressed the effectiveness of cooperation with the National School of Judges in the process of applying the current ECHR case law, as this topic remains one of the priority areas of joint work.

A professional team of trainers was invited to conduct the training:

• Ms Tetyana Fuley, Head of the Department of scientific research of judicial issues and scientific and methodological support of judicial education of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, OSCE expert
• Ms Oleksandra Yanovska, judge of the Supreme Court, national consultant of the Council of Europe
• Mr Markiyan Bem, attorney-at-law, partner at Nazar Kulchytskyi and Partners, national expert of the Council of Europe
• Mr Nazar Kulchytskyi, attorney at law, partner at Nazar Kulchytskyi and Partners, national expert of the Council of Europe
• Ms Margarita Sokorenko, Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights.

The participants of the training had the opportunity to listen to mini-lectures, work in small groups on practical tasks and test themselves during the entrance and exit express survey. Five modules were covered during the training:

• the right to life and the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment (Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms);
• the right to liberty and security (Article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms);
• the right to respect for private and family life and correspondence (Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms);
• the right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms);
• the right to property in criminal proceedings (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms).

On the second day of the training, a summary of the ECHR case-law in cases against Ukraine for 2023 was presented and the peculiarities of exercising the professional rights of judges and the guarantees of Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms were highlighted. The emphasis is placed on the general guarantees of impartiality and independence of the court, general requirements for the admissibility of evidence, evidence obtained as a result of a violation of Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and provocation of a crime.