ANNUAL REPORTOF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CHAPTER 6 126 Since then, the investigation in the criminal proceedings has proceeded, and the person who is suspected of committing the offence has been notified, as stipulated in part one of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In addition, the Main Department of the National Police in Poltava oblast began an official investigation to decide whether or not to bring to justice those who committed violations of the law and improperly performed their official duties. Example S. appealed to the Commissioner regarding the unjustified, in his opinion, closing of criminal proceedings. At the request of the Commissioner, on 9 December 2019 the Dnipropetrovsk Local Prosecutor’s Office 2 revoked a 13 November 2019 decision of the investigator of the investigative unit of Soborne police unit of the Main Department of the National Police in Dnipropetrovsk oblast to close the criminal proceedings, on the grounds that this was premature and unjustified. In order to ensure a full, highquality and impartial investigation into the criminal proceedings, the procedural manager provided the investigator with written guidance. Failure to complete adequate pre-trial investigations is justified by the excessive workload on investigators and the increase in the number of criminal proceedings. One solution to problems related to the failure of the authorized bodies to ensure effective and reasonable pre-trial investigations would be swift simplification of the pre-trial investigation of certain categories of criminal offences. Law of Ukraine 321-IX “On Amendments to Section II ‘Final and Transitional Provisions’ of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Simplify Pretrial Investigation of Certain Categories of Criminal Offences” of 3 December 2019 would introduce the notion of misdemeanours. Consideration of the law has been postponed, however, from 1 January 2020 to 1 July 2020. In addition, pre-trial investigative bodies need high-quality staffing. Right to legal defence One of the fundamental human rights in criminal proceedings is the right to legal defence. Observance of the principle of early access to a defence lawyer, guaranteeing that the state will provide no cost defence to those accused of a crime, ensuring the effectiveness of legal defence and enabling suspects to choose a defence lawyer freely as part of the right to a fair trial are of fundamental importance in criminal proceedings. The Commissioner continues to receive complaints concerning the right to legal defence; in 2019, 161 such complaints were received. Monitoring revealed that officials from the National Police in Kharkiv oblast did not comply with the requirements of notifying the centres for free secondary legal aid about cases where they apprehended a suspect, or subjected a suspect to administrative arrest or pre-trial detention.