OVERVIEW OF MONITORING FINDINGS CULTURE OF CONDUCTING THE TRIAL Law of Ukraine On the Judiciary and Status of Judges (Article 56): “A judge shall be obligated to: …comply with the rules of judicial ethics, including displaying and maintaining high standards of conduct in any activity in order to strengthen public trust in court, and ensure public confidence in judicial integrity and incorruptibility…”. In order to verify to which extent the judges observe the rules of culture of the trial and require compliance with these rules from trial participants, the monitors noted: • the general status of observance of ethical norms and communication culture both by the court (including judges and court staff) and the trial participants; • whether the court was rude, tactless or haughty to the trial participants, or it demonstrated impeccable conduct; • whether the court made 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; • whether the judge got distracted from the hearing or listened to the parties attentively; • whether the other participants of the trial observed ethical norms and due communication culture. The monitors evaluated the general status of observance of ethical norms and communication culture both by the court and the trial participants as: • impeccable – in 78% of cases; • with minor violations – in 20% of cases; • with gross violations of ethical standards – in 2% of cases. In 95% of cases, the court was neither rude, tactless nor haughty to the trial participants, and demonstrated impeccable conduct. In other cases, the monitors noted unethical conduct, specifically, the judge raising the voice and even yelling, focusing attention on the physical disabilities of the victim, communicating in a derogatory manner, making fun of the witness’s comments, etc. From the questionnaire of a monitor on a first instance court of general jurisdiction: “In the course of the trial the judge behaved in an haughty way towards trial participants”. In 99% of cases 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. However, the monitors also noted instances of disrespect. For example, in the Transcarpathian oblast the court showed disrespect to Roma persons, persons of the opposite sex, persons with special needs and police officers. 18 MONITORING OF ADHERENCE TO FAIR TRIAL STANDARDS IN UKRAINE