HACC Monitoring

Goal:

The purpose of this project is to analyze the judicial practices and operations of the HACC in terms of compliance with the standards of criminal procedural legislation, identify the problems in the HACC’s interaction with other participants in the criminal process, and outline promising areas for the institution’s growth.

Monitoring and assessment of the procedural and judicial aspects of the Court’s work

Lawyers at Transparency International Ukraine assess the performance of the High Anti-Corruption Court using a tailored methodology. This includes court monitoring visits, the completion of specially developed questionnaires, the analysis of trial proceedings in both instances, and a review of case-related information from open sources (briefings, conferences, reports, guidelines, manuals, etc.).

Questionnaires are used to monitor procedural issues, documenting the progress of the meeting, the actions of the parties, and other procedurally significant events. TI Ukraine experts have developed questionnaires for pre-trial and court proceedings, as well as for the legal mechanism of civil confiscation, which is evaluated according to civil procedure rules.

A specialized methodology was developed for analyzing court decisions, enabling the evaluation of these decisions against the principles of criminal proceedings. To obtain information that is not publicly accessible, experts submitted formal requests to the HACC and other relevant state bodies.

The subject of monitoring comprises selected cases from the NABU and the SAPO that were considered by the HACC and the HACC Appeals Chamber. Several factors were considered in the selection of corruption-related criminal proceedings for monitoring.

1. Resonance of the case, assessed based on the subject of the alleged criminal offense, the extent of the damage caused, or the value of illegal benefits received or provided.
2. The usefulness of monitoring for other areas of TI Ukraine’s work, such as alleged abuses or acts of corruption in public procurement, the restoration process, or cases involving the potential return of assets acquired through criminal means to Ukraine.

The monitoring of the HACC’s activity is based on the following principles: non-interference in the process of justice, impartiality, objectivity and comprehensiveness, transparency, and professionalism.

At the end of each monitoring stage, the TI Ukraine expert team prepares a report analyzing trends in the adjudication of corruption and corruption-related offenses, and assessing the extent to which previous recommendations have been implemented.

The most recent report covered the fifth stage of the HACC monitoring — from 1 October 2023 to 30 June 2024. Before that, the first stage of the HACC operations monitoring covered the period from July 6 to December 6, 20202; the second stage covered the period from April 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021, the third stage covered April 1, 2021 to February 23, 2022, and the fourth stage covered the period from January 1 to September 30, 2023.

Key findings from the HACC monitoring report for October 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024:

1. During the reporting period, the parliament adopted several regulations that improved the legal basis for the court’s work, particularly regarding the single-judge trial of criminal proceedings and the cancellation of time limits for pre-trial investigations in criminal cases without suspects.
2. The HACC enhanced the practical application of the “Lozovyi amendments” in joint criminal proceedings, with judges increasingly considering the substantive similarities between “old” and “new” criminal proceedings. The situation regarding the analysis of the elements of criminal offenses has also improved during the assessment by investigating judges of previous criminal-law qualifications concerning interim measures.
3. However, there are other urgent problems concerning the HACC’s activities, including the inability to impose fines on lawyers for failing to appear at court sessions, the lack of effective regulation for combating the abuse of procedural rights, the mandatory obligation for the court to close criminal proceedings due to the expiration of the pre-trial investigation period, and the inadequacies in the legal regulation of the institute for exemption from criminal liability and punishment due to the statute of limitations.

What we suggest?

For the Parliament:

1. The law should stipulate that the consent of the participants in criminal proceedings is not required for the continuation of the trial in the event of a judge’s replacement.
2. Qualitatively finalize the draft law on the approval of plea agreements.
3. Eliminate the list of unjustified exceptions to the legislation regarding single-judge trials.
4. Balance further restrictions on access to court decisions with the principle of transparency in the judicial process.
5. Expand the grounds for suspending the statute of limitations and proportionally increase criminal liability for certain criminal offenses. And also change the point at which the calculation of the limitation period ends.

For the HACC:

1. Pay more attention to ensuring the observance of procedure in court sessions and preventing procedural abuses.
2. Unify the practice in the matter of suspending proceedings, preventing abuses by the defense side.
3. Unify approaches to assessing public interest when approving plea agreements.
4. Standardize the practices of the first and appellate instances of the HACC when assessing the validity of a suspicion.

For SE Information Court Systems:

1. Implement the technical capability to restrict public access to certain parts of court decisions when the trial has occurred in an open court session.

HACC Decided Platform

HACC Decided is a unique, comprehensive resource on high-level corruption cases handled by the HACC, featuring all court decisions, case details, infographics tracking key case events, and expert analysis.

Its key feature is a sophisticated and user-friendly search system. Users can find all necessary information by entering keywords or the name of a case participant. If someone wants to learn the details of a case involving a specific high-ranking official, they simply enter the surname in the search field, and the system finds the relevant case.

The platform also offers advanced search by judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, verdict type, decision date, and more — useful for legal professionals, journalists, and anyone interested.

In addition, TI Ukraine experts prepare case summaries, so users receive not only documents from the system but also curated information on each case, the stages of its adjudication, and the positions of the defense and prosecution. Each summary includes an interactive infographic showing key events, which can also be downloaded.