Peculiarities of the work of courts under martial law

Abstract

The work of the judicial system in wartime is a subject of debate, because, despite the fact that the order of court work is fixed, most often, in the constitutions of countries, there are various precedents and experience of the work of courts in emergency situations. Important factors influencing the work of courts are the safety of judges and other participants in the process due to the occupation of some regions, massive shelling of Ukrainian cities, possible sabotage, etc. In international practice, emergency situations include: state of emergency, state of war, state of siege, state of public danger, state of war, state of tension, state of defense, state of threat, state of readiness. Independent Ukraine applied martial law for the first time in its existence in 2022, after the beginning of open aggression by the Russian Federation. In addition to the Constitution of Ukraine, during the period of martial law, the work of courts is regulated by the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law" and the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" on Changing the Jurisdiction of Courts" No. 2112-IX.The main aspects of the work of the courts in Ukraine during martial law in 2022 were: the work of the courts cannot be stopped; the safety of people is the primary goal; all judicial bodies must develop plans that include: measures to preserve personal files and personal data of judges and employees; lists of court cases to be evacuated, as well as those to be destroyed; the places where such documents will be evacuated and the routes of such movement; issues of information technology evacuation and data preservation; heads of justice bodies are responsible for organizing emergency measures; Parliament should promptly respond to the need for legislative support for the stable functioning of the judicial system; the authorities should ensure the information security of judges and limit public access to registers containing information about them; subjects responsible for the formation of the Supreme Council of Justice to form its composition as soon as possible; an operational headquarters was created at the Council of Judges of Ukraine. The experience of Ukraine and the conclusions made by the authorities regarding the effectiveness of such an algorithm of court work in martial law conditions can be used by European countries.