On 19 April in Kyiv, the final trainings were held within the Orientation Programme for the judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC). The Programme was led by the National School of Judges with the support of international donors and the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI). Thirty-eight judges of the court and its appeal chamber received certificates of the completion. It is expected that the HACC will become fully operational by June 2019.
“This programme has been a good example of cooperation and teamwork between international and local partners coming together for the benefit of Ukrainian people, and in this particular case, for the creation of the High Anti-Corruption Court. The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative will continue to provide expert and counselling assistance for the HACC judges will get all support in their very complicated but important work that they are about to start,” said Eka Tkeshelashvili, Head of EU Anti-Corruption Initiative, during the closing of Orientation Programme.
The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative provided support for the development and implementation of training modules on criminal law and criminal procedure, compliance of standards for human rights protection developed by the ECHR, as well international standards and conventions on anti-corruption. For the trainings, EUACI had selected top-notch foreign and Ukrainian expert with huge practical and academic experience and also involved the former judge of European Court of Human Rights.
“This has been an excellent programme and I’m impressed by all the support and trust that international partners has provided. We’ll do our best to prove that their commitment was worth the effort,” said HACC judge Oleh Pavlyshyn upon receiving his completion certificate.
The Orientation Programme for HACC judges lasted from 2-18 April and was designed to provide the Ukrainian judges with the knowledge and skills needed to adjudicate complex anti-corruption cases. The judges were taught international standards of legal proceedings and their application taking into account the challenges that Ukraine is facing nowadays. Practical cases reviewed during trainings were based on actual Ukrainian legal cases.
To prepare and conduct the Orientation Programme, EUACI worked with other international donors: the EU Advisory Mission in Ukraine (EUAM), USAID New Justice Program, Pravo-Justice Project, and Ukrainian-Canadian Support for Judicial Reform Project (SRJP).
According to Eka Tkeshelashvili, the next round of trainings for HACC judges by EUACI and other international donors is already under development and will take place in autumn.
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