The Ukrainian Court System

The Ukrainian court system, unlike its economic system, has seen little restructuring since Ukraine achieved independence in 1991. Just prior to independence, the court system was redefined, it remains for the most part structured as it was under the Soviet Union, with the centrally important difference that all authority now lies in Kyiv. The VerkhovnaRada has put a review of Ukraine’s Criminal Code and Civil Code on its 1997 agenda.

Today Ukraine’s jurisprudence system is organized into 3 major court systems: the Constitutional Court, which is responsible for issues involving the Constitution; the General Court of Competence (the Court of General Jurisdiction), which deals with civil and criminal matters, and at the top of which stands the Supreme Court of Ukraine; and the Court of Specialization (commonly known as the arbitration court (after 21.06.2001 – commercial court)), which basically handles contractual conflicts and is overseen by the High Court of Arbitration.

The Court of General Jurisdiction (General Court).The Court of General Jurisdiction (General Court), at the top of which stands the Supreme Court, handles criminal, civil and administrative matters in Ukraine. It consists of more than 800 raion (city and district) courts and 27 oblast courts (which include separate courts for Kyiv and for Sevastopol). Although Ukraine’s VerkhovnaRada has passed many laws on judicial reform, few have been implemented, particularly with regard to the General Court.

Ukraine’s General Court now will give criminals accused of major crimes the choice of a jury trial by a judicial tribunal. The jury system will be modeled after the French system. A judge will preside over the trial with 6 jurors present. The judge and the jurors will then render judgment after discussion of the case and a simple majority vote behind closed doors. In the future the General Court also will accept guilty pleas by the defendant.

However, the courts will not be allowed to accept plea bargains, as it is widely done in the United States, where the defense counsel, on behalf of the defendant, can make deals to plead guilty to lessen offenses to get lenient sentences.

Today the Supreme Court consists of the civil, criminal and military collegiums. Each collegium of the Supreme Court has judges who specialize in the area of the law. The civil collegium has 30 members, the criminal 43 and the military 10. In all, the Supreme Court consists of 85 judges, all of whom are members of the Supreme Court Plenary Assembly.

The Plenary Assembly is the highest judicial ruling body in the land on civil, criminal and military law. It reviews only those cases handed up from the collegium, and decisions are made by a majority vote after debate by the full body. Cases that are to be handled by the Plenary Assembly are first re-investigated and considered by two or three judges assigned to investigate the matter by the chairman. Collegiums receive cases from the oblast courts after recommendation for review by either the Procurator General’s Office or the chairman of the Supreme Court.

The Court that handles the brunt of civil and criminal complaints is the raion court. Raion courts are found in all administrative centers of Ukraine. Judges are responsible for their own dockets, which are assigned by a geographic division of the raion among the judges. Judges hear civil, administrative and most criminal cases.

A criminal matter comes before a judge after it has been investigated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Procurator’s Office must be present at a trial. The defendant has the option of having defense counsel, which occurs in about half the cases.

There are cases when defense counsel is mandatory and assigned by the court: when the accused is underage; or does not understand the language; or has a disability; or if one of the defendants has already obtained legal counsel.

When serious criminal charges (where a sentence of 10 years or more could be handed out) are leveled at a defendant, he is tried by the oblast court and assigned defense counsel. Currently the defendant is still tried by a three judge tribunal and two people’s assessors, although soon the option of a jury will be available.

The raion courts handle civil matters, with certain exceptions, including inter-confessional religious disagreements, which fall under the jurisdiction of the oblast court.

Generally lawyers need not be present at civil affairs and judges encourage that issues be settled out of court. Courts hold consultation hours when the public is allowed access to judges to confer and consult on civil issues. Although a judge is not allowed to give his opinion of the outcome of a case, he can review documents and give procedural advice.

The raion court handles administrative complaints also. These are lesser legal matters in which there is no harm done to another person: prostitution, public drunkenness, minor hooliganism, unruly behavior, etc.

Parties in criminal and civil matters have the ability to file appeals on judgment rendered by the raion courts to the oblast court. In civil matters, the appealing party has 7 days to submit all relevant documents; in criminal matters 10 days are allowed.

The oblast court’s responsibility is to review matters on appeal from the raion courts for their legal and procedural soundness. Oblast judges can abandon the verdict of the lower court and return the case for retrial, they can uphold the verdict, or they can change the verdict. The court cannot, however, hand out a harsher ruling. Decisions are not often changed (there have to be unusual circumstances). The oblast court hears criminal complaints of the first instance in serious crimes as well, which includes murder, burglary, rape and treason, among other charges. Decisions by oblast judges are subject to review by an oblast court oversight review board. The Oblast Procurator’s Office or the chairman of the oblast court can ask that a matter goes to the board for review, which puts much authority in the hands of the two bodies.

The Supreme Court is considering a change in the appeals process away from the system of cassation to give oblast level judges the ability to do more than simply review procedural and legal matters. Cases reach the Supreme Court only on recommendation of either the Procurator General’s Office or the chairman of the Supreme Court.

The Arbitration Court.The arbitration court of Ukraine is a court of contracts. Its function is to settle disputes between parties over disagreements on contractual responsibilities, payment of debts for products, services or properties. It consists of 25 oblast arbitration courts, and separate courts of the Crimea, and the cities of Sevastopol and Kyiv. Under them fall municipal courts (both city and raion). All answer to the High Court of Arbitration. The system involves 1,057 arbitration judges.

The court is an independent body responsible for reviewing and settling contractual disputes among legal entities, government bodies and other official organs. Essentially, its job is to determine whether terms exist for breaking the contract and what are they; to decide whether a contract exists and what are the promises offered by the parties. In an arbitration proceeding the court does not dole out punishment, it upholds the remedy offered by the winning party.

The court also rules on disputes between government administrative bodies and legal individuals. An oblast or raion arbitration courts may issue a decree that a legal individual, whether a business or a person, believes is contrary to or not in compliance with a law of Ukraine. The issue can be brought before an arbitration judge to settle the matter.

Not every one has access to the arbitration court. The court will only review applications by legal persons that is, entities that have a registered status as such with the Ukrainian government. They can be individuals, organizations, business or government administrative bodies. They must fulfill government requirements as specified by the laws of Ukraine and must report their dealing in Ukraine, which includes financial reports, on a regular basis. If one of the parties to a dispute is not a registered legal person, the matter can be referred only to the Court of General Competence, which handles criminal and civil matters.

The judges are guided by two laws in handing down their decision: the law on arbitration courts and the law on procedure of the arbitration process. The former defines the responsibility of the judge and the court; the latter explains the procedures for resolving disputes.

The decision can be appealed to the High Court of Arbitration, whose presidium is the highest court in the arbitration system, but suits are rarely accepted unless they involve unusual circumstances or government interests.

1. As you read the text a) look for the answers to these questions:

1. What is the structure of the court system of Ukraine? 2. What is the structure of the arbitration court system of Ukraine?3. What kind of court is the arbitration court and what disputes does it rule on? 4. Explain the difference between a legal entity and a physical person. 5. Describe the procedure of handling contractual conflicts? 6. What is the structure of the General Court of Competence? 7. Name the court of last resort in the General Court of Competence system and tell about its structure. 8. What cases are handled in the General Court of Competence? 9. Are there jury trials in Ukraine? 10. What are the duties of the raion court in the General Court of Competence? 11. Is the defence counsel mandatory in Ukraine?12. What are the duties of the oblast court in the General Court of Competence? 13. How can cases reach the Supreme Court? 13. What is the difference in trial procedure held in a raion and an oblast courts? 14. Where can one appeal if he/she disagrees with the judge’s decision? 15. Is there death penalty in Ukraine? 16. What do you know about the rights of the detained and arrested in Ukraine?

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