Adjudicating Sexual Crimes – Fair Trial and Access to Justice Highlighted at Dnipro Seminar
July 24, 2025
Ensuring access to justice in cases of sexual violence demands more than technical legal knowledge. It requires judicial sensitivity towards the trauma experienced by victims, a firm commitment to fair trial guarantees (equality of arms), and a recognition of the seriousness, complexity, and evidentiary challenges these cases often entail.
Last week, the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine, in partnership with the Dnipro Branch of the National School of Judges (NSJ), brought together over 20 judges from courts across Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions at the Dnipro Appeals Court. The two-day seminar focused on adjudicating sexual crimes while safeguarding access to justice and upholding fair trial standards.
The event featured prosecutors, defense lawyers, and victim advocates, who shared with judges the challenges they face in sexual crime proceedings. A psychologist, gender specialists, and victim support professionals also contributed by addressing common myths and biases that can affect judicial impartiality and reasoning, while offering practical ways to better accommodate the needs of vulnerable victims and witnesses during trials. The presentations, interactive exercises, and case examples sparked an open dialogue with judges and EUAM experts, aimed at aligning Ukrainian courtroom practices with European standards and best practices.
Judge Iryna Shapovalova, one of the speakers, noted: “The presentations and discussions, combining legal, psychological, and practical dimensions of handling sexual violence cases, provided valuable insights into Ukraine’s challenges from a European perspective. They also equipped participants with tools that can be immediately applied in judicial practice.”
Building upon this perspective, Henri Telkki, Finnish judge and EUAM’s Senior Adviser on Prosecution, emphasised: “A victim-sensitive approach is necessary to enable victims’ full participation in criminal proceedings without causing re-traumatization. However, this approach must not compromise the defendant’s right to a fair trial. The judge’s role is to ensure due process, careful assessment of evidence with the burden of proof resting on the prosecution, transparent and balanced reasoning, and a fair judgment – justice that ultimately earns public trust.”
EUAM remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian judiciary in strengthening human rights, fair trial guarantees, and public confidence in justice – particularly in times of war, when accountability and respect for the rule of law are more essential than ever.
