What impact public health emergencies have on administration of justice? How to keep the balance between modern technologies and protection of rights guaranteed by the ECHR? These and other important points were addressed by the Council of Europe international consultant Prof. Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou on the 2021 Kyiv international legal aid conference, organised by the Coordination Centre of Free Legal Aid of Ukraine on 4-5 March 2021 .

About 150 legal professionals, who participated in the conference, have increased the awareness about public health emergencies’ impact on various aspects of the rights to fair trial and liberty. During his presentation, Prof. Dzehtsiarou highlighted that while online hearings are not as such incompatible with the Convention, there are number of guarantees that the states should ensure:

• The confidential communication of the parties with their lawyers.
• The hearings must remain public to the maximum extent possible. The judicial administration needs to find the alternative ways of maintaining publicity in case the physical access of public to the court is impossible. A blanket ban on public hearings during public health emergencies is likely to be disproportionate.
• Habeas corpus rights should be guaranteed and remand detainees should appear before a judicial institution.

Council of Europe thanks the organisers of this important event and will continue supporting Ukraine in its efforts to guarantee the rights foreseen by the ECHR.

The activity was carried out within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Human rights compliant criminal justice system in Ukraine”, which is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022.