ANNUAL REPORTOF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CHAPTER 6 124 failure to notify persons specified by law of the closure of criminal proceedings; excessive length of pretrial investigation; and violation of the right to defence. Following consideration of these reports, the Commissioner sent requests for complainants’ rights to be restored to the prosecutor’s office as procedural managers in criminal proceedings for inspection. Most allegations of ineffectiveness of investigations were confirmed, and the prosecutor’s office responded by giving written instructions to investigators on specific investigative/search actions, and in some cases initiating the removal of investigators from further pre-trial investigation and transferring proceedings to other investigators. Example The Commissioner received a request from T. in which the applicant complained about the improper, in his opinion, pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings relating to arson committed on the applicant’s vehicle (that took place on 18 May 2018). Arson is a criminal offence under part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code. To verify the stated facts, the Commissioner sent a request to the Prosecutor’s Office of Volyn oblast. As a result, the prosecutor proposed to the head of the pre-trial investigation body that the head suspend the investigator from the investigation, due to the ineffective way in which the pre-trial investigation was being conducted. Progress in the pre-trial investigation and procedural guidance in the proceedings was considered at an extended operational meeting at the Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, with the participation of the leadership of the Main Department of the National Police in Volyn Oblast. As a result, measures aimed at strengthening the pre-trial investigation were taken. Example L.’s appeal to the Commissioner referred to the ineffective pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings opened on 15 September 2018. According to the letter written by the Commissioner, Cherkasy Local Prosecutor’s Office conducted an inspection and took measures to strengthen the pre-trial investigation; in particular, the investigation was entrusted to another investigator. In addition, Cherkasy Local Prosecutor’s Office initiated an official investigation into violations of the requirements of criminal procedure legislation during the pre-trial investigation, overseen by the leadership of the Main Department of the National Police in Cherkasy oblast. Another example of the inaction of investigators is the collective appeal to the Commissioner from P. and others regarding progress in the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings opened on 6 September 2018 that was conducted by investigators from the investigative department of the Bila Tserkva unit of the Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv oblast. At the initiative of the Commissioner, the Local Prosecutor’s Office in Bila Tserkva in Kyiv oblast conducted an inspection. As a result of the investigation, the head of the pre-trial investigation body assigned another investigator to the proceedings, to