Ukrainian Judges in Ireland: Learning from the Past to Deliver Justice for War Crimes Today
February 17, 2025
The courtroom in Ukraine is no longer just a place of legal argument. It is a frontline in the fight for justice, a space where the horrors of war are documented, and accountability is pursued. Some judges work in buildings shattered by Russian shelling. Others deliberate on cases with the sound of air-raid sirens in the background. Many have exchanged their judges’ robes and courtrooms for military uniforms and trenches.
As part of its mandate to support Ukraine’s judiciary in prosecuting international crimes committed during the ongoing war, the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine organised a study visit for six Ukrainian judges to Ireland and Northern Ireland last month in conjunction with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Irish Rule of Law International.
Experience Exchange
In Dublin and Belfast, the Ukrainian delegation met with Irish and Northern Irish judges working on cases from the conflict in Northern Ireland, lawyers working at the international courts and tribunals in The Hague, as well as legal academics from the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway and Queen’s University Belfast. The delegation visited courts and took part in discussions on international humanitarian law, targeting in war, the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict settings, open-source intelligence (OSINT), sovereign immunity, and modes of liability. These were not abstract debates. They centred on the pressing question: How can Ukraine hold perpetrators accountable? What is the best way to ensure justice?
“The experience of Irish and Northern Irish actors in conflict-related cases provide valuable insights to the unprecedented challenges facing Ukraine’s judiciary. Irish and Northern Irish judges and legal experts shared their expertise with their Ukrainian counterparts, including on balancing justice with reconciliation and upholding due process, even in the most complex circumstances. These discussions will help Ukrainian judges in dealing with the challenge of working on cases of international crimes,” said Aonghus Kelly, Head of the International Crimes Legal Unit at EUAM Ukraine.
While Irish and Northern Irish judges shared lessons from their past, the Ukrainians brought the brutal realities of their present. They spoke of courts reduced to rubble, trials disrupted by air raids, and colleagues who had been killed or injured. Justice, for them, is not an abstract principle – it is a daily battle. Ukraine’s judiciary, like the country itself, is under constant attack.
United in Strengthening Ukraine’s Legal Front
This visit was part of a broader effort by the EU to strengthen Ukraine’s judicial system in the face of war. The knowledge gained will help Ukrainian judges handle international crimes trials, ensuring that their decisions are grounded in international legal standards.
Speaking to the Irish media, Judge Oleksandra Yanovska, of the Cassation Criminal Court of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, believes, as do her colleagues, that the perpetrators of international crimes and atrocities will be dealt with in Ukrainian courts. “Ukrainian judges are able and they are professionally and morally obliged to provide justice in the war crimes cases, in crimes against humanity. That’s for sure that the majority of war crime cases will be dealt domestically by Ukrainian courts – the international tribunals will pay attention to the more senior Russian generals but Ukraine will hear the prosecutions,” she said.
Ukraine’s judiciary is already making history. It is the first time a country is prosecuting war crimes on this scale while still under attack. The work of these judges is crucial – not just for Ukraine, but for the entire international legal order.
