CULTURE OF CONDUCTING OF THE TRIAL From the questionnaire of a monitor on a first instance court of general jurisdiction: “The victim came together with a man who supported him when he walked, but the judge several times pointed out that he needed additional assistance. The actions of the judge did not correspond to the situation, since the victim was able to move with the help of a cane. However, the judge focused attention on the victim’s physical disabilities …”. In 90% of cases the judge did not get distracted from the hearing and listened to the parties attentively. However, in other cases the monitors noted the judges taking phone calls, messaging, etc., whispering to each other while hearing out the parties and during the interrogation of witnesses. From the questionnaire of a monitor on a court of appeal of general jurisdiction: “One judge in the panel slept in the chair in a reclining position. Another judge did not turn off the sound on his phone, which rang four times during the hearing”. In 94% of cases the participants of the trial observed ethical norms and due communication culture. In other cases, the monitors described the parties interrupting each other and even the judge, yelling, abusing, ridiculing and disrespecting the witness. From the questionnaire of a monitor on a court of appeal of general jurisdiction: “The lawyers talked to each other during the hearing, which created noise. The judges did not stop this behaviour”. Summing it up, ethical norms are mostly observed in court, but there are certain issues: • in each fifth case the monitors noted minor violations of ethical norms and communication culture, in each fiftieth case these violations were gross; • in each tenth case the judges did not show sufficient attention and got distracted (mostly by their phones). BEST SCORE 4,9 points The court did not make any comments and actions which showed disrespect to a person by race, sex, nationality, religion, political opinions, social and economic status, physical disabilities or other forms of discrimination. WORST SCORE 2,8 points The general status of observance of ethical norms and communication culture both by the court and the trial participants. AVERAGE SCORE FOR MAINTAINING DUE COMMUNICATION CULTURE 4,1 -5 Report on the findings of the first trial monitoring programme in Ukraine 0 5 19