On 23 June the round table on the role of judges in ensuring the fair trial within the reasonable time took place in Odessa, organized jointly by the Council of Europe Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” and the Odessa commercial court of appeal.

The objectives of the event, attended by the representatives of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Office of the Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, presidents and judges of courts of Odessa oblast, international and national experts of the Council of Europe, was to discuss the issue of an excessive length of proceedings in Ukraine and, accordingly, the high number of the relevant complaints pending before the European Court of Human Rights in cases against Ukraine, to exchange views on practical matters causing an excessive length of proceedings and to suggest possible solutions to this problem.

Among other things, the participants discussed the issue of ensuring the reasonable length of civil, criminal, commercial and administrative proceedings, the relevant European standards, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights as regards the length of proceedings.

Following the discussion, the applicants expressed their opinion as regards the further format of cooperation between national authorities with the Council of Europe in ensuring the fair trial within the reasonable time, and the establishment of an effective domestic remedy for the relevant complaints.

The Council of Europe Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” is financed by the contribution of the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and is a follow-up to the previous Council of Europe efforts as regards the reform of the judiciary in Ukraine.