HCJ Head: we were forced to change jurisdiction of 169 courts due to war and annexation
Due to the impossibility of the work of the courts in the occupied territories and on the front line in Ukraine, the jurisdiction of cases of 169 courts has been changed, Head of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) Hryhoriy Usyk has said.
In an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he said that 88 local and appellate courts are not currently administering justice, and 138 courts are located in the territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.
Usyk explained that, despite the war, the state is not relieved of the obligation to ensure the right of citizens to a fair trial. Therefore, the HCJ, on the proposal of the head of the Supreme Court, changes the jurisdiction of those courts where it is impossible to administer justice from the point of view of security both for judges and citizens.
"In general, due to the war and annexation, we were forced to change the jurisdiction of 169 courts of Ukraine. At the same time, given the proper conditions for the administration of justice, the territorial jurisdiction of 55 courts was restored," he said.
Speaking about the situation with the courts in Kherson, the head of the HCJ said that a decision to resume the work of three local courts of Kherson and the Court of Appeal from February 1 was made.
"But now Kherson is under constant shelling, and at the request of the judges and the appeal of the State Judicial Administration, we have postponed the resumption of their work until March 1, 2023," Usyk said.
In general, as the head of the HCJ said, as a result of hostilities, 98 court premises were damaged or completely destroyed – 12% of their total number, of which 12 courts were completely destroyed.
Most of all, according to him, the premises of judicial institutions in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions were damaged or destroyed.