Working in permanent cooperation with United Nation’s officials our Association sent in 2023 submission to UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, proffessor Margaret Satterthwaite on issues of challenges for lawyers’ independence in conditions of Russian occupation of Crimea and broadscale aggression in Ukraine.
ARC’s submission, published now at UN web-sourses, stressed on issues of aggressor’s intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference to the human defenders’ activities in the Сrimеа and reminded on example of professor Borys Babin, repressed per absentee by occupiers’ punitive structures just for legal aid to Crimean residents, helping them to pass individual applications to European Court of Human Rights.
ARC reminded at submission that the same European Court in its decision for case “Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea)” declared admissible applicant’s complaints that so-called “courts” in the occupied Crimea could not be considered to have been established by law. ARC stressed in submission that armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine caused that up to may, 2023 87 appellate and local courts on Ukraine’s mainland, approximately 11 % did not administer justice, and 99 court premises, approximately 13% were damaged or completely destroyed by Russian invaders.
ARC pointed that next de-occupation and reintegration of Ukrainian territories will demand a big number of Ukrainian lawyers and judges to be appointed and such recruitment and placement issues is a key and still urgent task for such reintegration’s preparation.
