The event was organized at DSUIA with the participation of the Advisory Mission of the European Union in Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine) and the Coordination Center for Victim and Witness Support of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The seminar “Ensuring Support for Victims and Witnesses from the Beginning of the Criminal Process, During Pre-Trial Investigation and Until the Final Court Decision” took place at DSUIA with the participation of representatives of the Coordination Center for Victim and Witness Support of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Advisory Mission of the European Union in Ukraine.
Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure of DSUIA, Police Major Viktoriia Rohalska took part in the seminar.
During the seminar, issues of preventing re-traumatization and re-victimization, applying approaches that take into account traumatic experience throughout the entire criminal proceedings were raised. The victim-oriented approach in EU legislation and relations between the EU and Ukraine was considered; standards for courts working with vulnerable victims and witnesses; the Irish model of comprehensive support for victims and witnesses throughout criminal proceedings.
From EUAM the following spoke: Head of the Mobile Unit Johan Sitrius, Advisor on Criminal Investigation in Organized Crime Cases Christopher Elliott, Senior Advisor on Victims’ Rights Ola Kvarnstrom, Senior Advisor on Criminal Prosecution in International Crimes Cases Dariusz Sielicki, Specialist on Prosecutorial Reform Natalia Monich.
Invited guests were: Head of the Coordination Center for Victims and Witnesses of the Office of the Prosecutor General Vernika Plotnikova, Deputy Head of the Coordination Center Rostyslav Pospieiev, Director of the Dnipro Regional Branch of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Volodymyr Poplavskyi.
Participants included representatives of regional departments of the Coordination Center for Victims and Witnesses in liberated and adjacent regions (Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts), judges, representatives of departments countering crimes committed under armed conflict conditions of regional prosecutor’s offices (Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts).
Such events contribute to increasing the professional competence of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers, bringing national practice closer to European standards of fair justice, deepening the understanding of the requirements of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the right to a fair trial, as well as strengthening cooperation between criminal justice bodies and international partners in the field of protecting the rights of victims and witnesses under martial law conditions.
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