CASES WITH PARTICIPATION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES According to the criterion “impartiality of the court and observance of the principle of equality” – 4.5 points (the general score is exactly the same). The observation of ethical norms and the culture of communication both by the court and the persons present in the hearings, related to the armed conflict, was evaluated as “impeccable” in 94% of cases, while the general rate was 78%. Overall, the monitors did not detect any specifics in the consideration of these cases.   CASES WITH PARTICIPATION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES The monitors observed 23 court hearings which concerned the representatives of national minorities. These cases are insufficient for a quantitative analysis; however, certain conclusions may be drawn. The monitoring of such cases mostly took place in the Transcarpathian oblast. Comparing the cases of Roma, Romanian and Hungarian national minorities, it is worth mentioning that the nature of the cases visited by the monitors was quite different. The Romanians and Hungarians most often participated in civil cases, while the Roma – in criminal cases. In certain cases with participation of the representatives of national minorities (Roma, Romanian and Hungarian) serious breaches of the right to fair trial were identified, discriminatory by nature. FORGERY OF DOCUMENTS The victim in a criminal proceeding was a Romanian who was only able to speak Ukrainian but could neither read nor write. The court employee wrote in his name and gave him to sign an application of a different content than he requested. Instead of the request to consider the case in his absence and inform of the results in written form, the court employee wrote, "I have no moral and material damage claims”. The victim signed the document. VIOLATION OF THE PUBLICITY OF THE TRIAL At the beginning of the trial more than 15 Roma entered the courtroom and waited for the hearing to begin. The court staffer told them to leave without any explanation, and allowed only the legal representatives, the guardians the defendants and the monitor to stay. FAILURE TO PROVIDE FOR THE RIGHT TO INTERPRETATION, VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO LEGAL COUNCIL Five Roma youngsters were defendants in a criminal case about theft, out of them only one knew Ukrainian well enough. An interpreter was not invited to the trial. The defense lawyer did not know the language his clients spoke. The defendants claimed they were illiterate and could neither read nor write. Therefore, the Roma signed applications and motions of content unknown to them. Report on the findings of the first trial monitoring programme in Ukraine 79