Judiciary of Ukraine

The sphere in which the law operates is quite extensive. It embraces our life and work, determines the legal status of every citizen. That's why it is very important to know all peculiarities of the judicial system of the country.

97 per cent of all criminal cases and 99 per cent of all civil cases are examined in the principal link of Ukrainian judicial system - the people's courts of districts and towns. The most serious offences ere examined by the courts of regions. The Supreme Court of Ukraine only examines cases of particular complexity or of special public significance, and does so either upon its own decision, or upon the initiative of the Procurator of Ukraine.

The judicial system of Ukraine consists of district (town) People's Courts, regional and territorial courts, the Supreme Court, military tribunals (for servicemen). All the country's judicial bodies are elected. The population elects judges and people's assessors.

The legality of the court's activities is controlled by the Procurator's Office which has the right of protest in a higher court. However, the procurator himself has no right to cancel a verdict.

The Procurator's Office exercises general supervision over the observance of laws on the part of executive organs, officials and individual citizens.

The Procurator-General of Ukraine is appointed by Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament).

The legislation of Ukraine makes it binding on the court, the procurator and investigator to ensure all-round, complete and fair examination of all the circumstances of the case. In most criminal cases the court hearing is preceded by the complicated work of collecting and investigating evidence. According to Ukrainian procedural law this stage is called preliminary investigation. The conclusions arrived at by the investigator and procurator regarding the guilt of a person have preliminary character. The court alone decides on penalty to be applied to the person guilty of a crime.

In cases provided for by the law, the court alone has the right to decide which of the parties has violated the law. The Judges hand down decisions only in keeping with their internal conviction, with the law and in conformity with the circumstances of the case. No person can regard guilty or subjected to legal punishment until sentence has been passed by a court of law. All citizens of Ukraine are equal before the law.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-01