Experts Presented a Report on the Modernization of the CPC of Ukraine

Denys Bugay and Mykyta Nuralin presented a Report on the results of the discussion of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine (CPC). The report reflects the need to modernize the Code in terms of strengthening the adversarial principle and the right to defense.

The CPC of Ukraine has been in place for five years, but in the process of its implementation there was a weak point – securing the right to defense and adversarial process. Experts noticed systemic problems in terms of practical application of procedural norms in court. When preparing the Report and drafting  recommendations, the experts came from their own experience of protection in criminal proceedings, and took into account the responses of other lawyers, judges, and law enforcement officials. Therefore, in order to identify problematic issues, three expert discussions in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv were conducted to facilitate dialogue between judges, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, international experts of the Council of Europe and the legal community at the national and regional levels.

The participants of the discussion were judges of all courts, in particular the newly elected Supreme Court, lawyers, public prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine and local prosecutors, specialists in the criminal process, and international experts of the Council of Europe.

Among the speakers there were Denys Bugay, former President of the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA),  James Hamilton and Jeremy McBride, international experts of the Council of Europe, Oleksandra Yanovska, judge of the Supreme Court, Dmytro Kuhniuk expert of the Program, and members of the first hundred of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program Mykyta Nuralin, Yevheniy Grushovets, Oksana Dytynko, Maryna Starovoitova.

The “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program is being implemented by the Ukrainian Bar Association and the Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers, with the support of the United States Embassy and The Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine Project funded by the Government of Canada and implemented by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE). The “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program was developed during 2016-2017 with the support of the project “Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine” with an expert contribution from the Canadian Bar Association.