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BOMBED OUT COURTS, judges killed fighting on the frontlines and lost colleagues in Russian drone strikes are just some of the daily realities for the Ukrainian judiciary.
Recently a group of judges visited Ireland to raise awareness about their country’s plight as the third anniversary of the Russian invasion looms later this month.
The judges, drawn from across the war ravaged country, visited and spoke to senior judicial figures in Ireland and legal practitioners and experts in Troubles era cases in the North as well as senior academics.
They are accompanied by Aonghus Kelly, who is the current Head of the International Crimes Legal Unit at the European Union Advisory Mission Ukraine (EUAM) based in Kyiv. Prior to taking up his current position, Aonghus was the Executive Director of Irish Rule of Law International.
The visit was facilitated by Irish Rule of Law International, EUAM and The Department of Foreign Affairs.
The judges, Oleksandr Marchuk, Oleksandra Yanovska, Iryna Shapovalova, Maryna Bondarenko, Svitlana Muratova, Oleksandr Harskyi, serve in a variety of roles including from the supreme court level to the district court.
Speaking through an interpreter, Oleksandr Marchuk who is the Head of the Cassation Criminal Court within the Supreme Court, said that the judiciary has been reduced by 50% because of the conflict.
This is not just through the killing of officers of the court by Russian action but also because they have left their seats on the bench to fight on the frontlines.
A further complication is the occupation of the far east of Ukraine along the Russian border.
Marchuk said that it means that the remaining judges must work to maintain the service and they have succeeded in making sure that the same level of court hearings are continuing.
This is despite widespread damage to courts, he said.
“This is our contribution, from the Ukrainian judiciary to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian state,” he said.
Judge Iryna Shapovalova said: ”There are 169 court buildings damaged or completely destroyed in Ukraine.”
Oleksandr Harskyi is a judge from the Black Sea port of Odessa – that city has suffered extensive bombing by Russian forces.
He said that he believes that there are indications that it is part of a strategy.
“We can say for sure that the aim was to directly undermine the Ukrainian state efforts.
“As criminal law specialists, we can assess or give our explanation or perception of the processes going on and we can see that certainly there is some sort of intent towards the attacking of the Ukrainian judiciary and infrastructure.
“The aim is to destabilise or partly destroy one of the branches of Ukrainian state power which leads definitely, or aims to, destroy the Ukrainian state in general,” he added.
Separately they have also recorded “several examples” of Ukrainian judges being arrested by the Russian army and imprisoned.
The judges said that the Ukrainian Government has succeeded in negotiating their release in a prisoner swap of Russian soldiers.
Harskyi said a large number of the judicial staff and judiciary who left to fight on the frontline have been injured or killed in the fighting.
The judges also spoke of one of their colleagues on the Supreme Court, Leonid Loboyko who was killed on 28 September by a Russian drone strike in the village of Kozacha Lopan in Kharkiv Oblast. He was helping to deliver aid in a newly liberated part of the country.
Svitlana Muratova, a judge who served in Kharkiv, said that many judges have also suffered loss as they sent their children to fight.
“We are trying to be impartial and professional and keep doing our business because it is our first job to serve the Ukrainian public and State,” she said.
While the war rages, and the third anniversary of the start of the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia looms, the judges all said that they were committed to the prosecution of war crimes that happened on their territory.
Judge Oleksandra Yanovska, of the Cassation Criminal Court of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, believes, as do her colleagues, that the perpetrators of war crimes and atrocities will be dealt with in Ukrainian courts.
“Ukrainian judges are able and they are professionally and morally obliged to provide justice in the war crimes cases, in crimes against humanity.
“That’s for sure that the majority of war crime cases will be dealt domestically by Ukrainian courts – the international tribunals will pay attention to the more senior Russian generals but Ukraine will hear the prosecutions,” she said.
Judge Maryna Bondarenko, who works in the Darnytskyi District Court of Kyiv said that the future for Ukraine was to see her country join the European Union and be part of that legal rules based system also.
This was said repeatedly by the judges. They see the help given by Ireland and other EU states as a key help for Ukraine to become a member State.
Judge Harskyi said that joining the European Union would help Ukraine realise the fundamental principles of the Rule of Law.
“Implementing that in real life is the only way to protect the state, but also to ensure the prosperity of the people of the public,” he said.
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