On 10 April 2019, Mårten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, officially transferred to Head of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors (QDCP), Vitalii Hrushkovskyi, the video recording equipment that will allow recording and online broadcasting the QDCP meetings. The procurement and installation of the video-recording equipment is part of the on-going support of the prosecution reform implementation in accordance with the European standards and best practices by the Council of Europe’s Project “Continued Support to the criminal justice reform in Ukraine” funded by the government of Denmark.

Deputy Head of QDCP, Viktor Shemchuk, expressed his gratitude for the expert support of the Council of Europe during two and a half years of the QDCP existence. “The acquisition of equipment will enable video recording and audio monitoring of all the QDCP meetings and will give a possibility to launch online broadcasting. Thanks to this, we will ensure that both civil society and persons under disciplinary proceedings are certain of the objectivity, integrity and fairness of our activities.

Mårten Ehnberg emphasised that creation of QDCP was one of the recommendations of the Council of Europe, and this is why the endorsement of its transparency remains the priority for the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine. “We usually provide the methodological and expert support. At the same time we see enormous work done by the QDCP team and we are ready to support further improvement of the transparency of its activities. This is why today we transfer the technical equipment, which will ensure the openness of all the QDCP meetings and their online broadcasting”, he said.

Creation of the prosecutorial self-governance and support bodies was a crucial step for the prosecution reform in Ukraine. More information is available here.