Real statistics refute the thesis of low trust in the courts and the quality of justice - Lydia Izovitova

             14% of local court decisions are appealed in appellate and cassation instances. Such statistics show that there is a qualified, professional and fair court in the country.

             This was emphasized by the Head of the National Bar Association of Ukraine (hereinafter - UNBA), the Bar Council of Ukraine (hereinafter – BCU) Lydia Izovitova during the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Development of Justice".

             "In 14% of cases, dissatisfaction with court decisions arises from all cases. Is it possible to talk about unjust justice? Such a small percentage of appeals against decisions, on the contrary, says that our court is qualified, professional and fair. There can be no other conclusions. However, no one gave an assessment of this and did not say that the judges are virtuous, "Lydia Izovitova stressed.

             Thus, this refutes the thesis that the only judicial institution that inspires the trust of citizens is the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, formed with the participation of international experts.

             At the same time, Lydia Izovitova noted that there are a number of real problems in the Ukrainian judicial system that need to be addressed. In particular, citizens' access to justice, which is limited due to high court fees.

             "Our clients have been restricted in access to court for several years due to the fact that the state has set a very high court fee. People can't afford to sue today. And our legislators, if they care about the rights of citizens of the country, must ensure that the rates of court fees for people, for small and medium-sized businesses are reduced, "- said the Head of UNBA, BCU.

             Another problem is the lack of judges in the courts, Lydia Izovitova stressed. She stressed that due to lustration legislation, many professional judges have left the profession, which complicates access to justice.

             “Judges have left the courts, there are closed court buildings, there are courts where are one or two judges who cannot provide the population that goes to court with a proper level of justice. There was a so-called "big exit" of judges from the profession. It refers to the judges with vast professional experience, with human wisdom, with extensive experience and understanding of how to handle court cases. They were forced to leave the profession, but in fact they were pushed out. And today we need to work on these mistakes. We need to establish why they left. They left because they saw and could not withstand this pressure, humiliation, accusations of injustice and dishonesty, which is not known at all", - said Lydia Izovitova.

             We will remind, on March 1 the Head of UNBA took part in opening of the All-Ukrainian forum "Ukraine 30. Development of justice" with participation of the president of Ukraine. During the first day of the forum, the Strategy for Further Development of the Justice System was discussed.

             Photo by Kyryll Avramenko.