From 13 to 16 April 2026, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Mattias Guyomar, travelled to Kyiv along with the judge elected in respect of Ukraine, Mykola Gnatovskyy, and Deputy Registrar Abel Campos, to take part in a conference entitled National Courts and the ECHR: respective roles, interaction, subsidiarity, organised by the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
This was President Guyomar’s first visit to Ukraine since his election as President of the Court. He emphasised that it was important for him to come to Ukraine to express solidarity and support for the Ukrainian judiciary operating in wartime, to strengthen judicial dialogue, and to draw attention to the Court’s role in holding Russia accountable for violations of human rights protected by the Convention.
Speaking from Kyiv, on 15 April 2026, President Guyomar highlighted that the European Court of Human Rights was the only international court to hold Russia responsible for numerous systematic human rights violations committed in Ukraine since 2014. He stressed that the Court’s effectiveness and the authority of its judicial decisions depended on the full respect for its judicial independence.
President Guyomar further emphasised the importance of the shared responsibility between the Strasbourg Court and national courts in applying the Convention. Emphasising the role of judges within the international legal order, he stated that “there can be no comprehensive, lasting and just peace without law, justice and human rights”.
The President also delivered a lecture at the Taras Shevchenko National University on the role of the Court in maintaining peace through law. He concluded his speech by saying “Law is words, and words matter. At the Court, in the judgments we deliver, words are our tools in the fight against arbitrariness, against wars, against bombs.” President Guyomar and Judge Gnatovskyy then jointly answered questions from students.
During the visit, the delegation held working meetings with Stanislav Kravchenko, the President of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, judges of the Courts of Cassation, as well as with Oleksandr Petryshyn, the acting President of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and the judges of that court. The delegation also met with General Kyrylo Budanov and Dr Iryna Mudra, the Head and Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Liudmyla Suhak, acting Minister of Justice; Oleksandr Karasevych, State Secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Marharyta Sokorenko, the Agent of Ukraine before the European Court of Human Rights.
