Chapter 6. Compliance with the rule of law in the exercise of justice 131 The Commissioner received a complaint from K. on the lengthy hearing of his court case. The Commissioner’s investigation revealed that K.’s case had been pending since 2012. The case was due to be heard by Judge Ch. of Babushkinskyi District Court in the city of Dnipro, who was dismissed from the post of judge in February 2016. The investigation into K.’s case also revealed that for more than three years, 578 other cases due to be heard by the above-mentioned judge remained pending in Babushkinskyi District Court. The cases had been logged as completed, meaning that they were not automatically redistributed to other judges. To address this issue, in November 2019, the Commissioner sent a request to the Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine (SJA) to ensure organizational and legal regulation of the mechanisms for the automatic redistribution of these cases, in order to reduce violations of the right to trial within a reasonable time limit, as guaranteed by Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In turn, the Head of the SJA of Ukraine notified the Commissioner that the procedure for automatic redistribution of court cases is determined by the “Regulation on the automated document management system of the court”, approved by Council of Judges of Ukraine Decision 30 of 26 November 2010 (as amended on 15 September 2016). The Head of the SJA also reported that since 1 July 2016, a new computer program “D-3” has been used for court record keeping. As the Head of SJA of Ukraine appeared unwilling to act on this matter, the Commissioner notified the Council of Judges of Ukraine, which is currently inspecting the organization of Babushkinskyi District Court’s activities in the city of Dnipro. The right to free interpretation/translation The ability of the accused to communicate in court in his/her native language and to receive copies of court decisions translated into his/her native language or another language s/he speaks, as well as the ability to use the services of an interpreter/translator is one of the components of his/her right to defence and trial under independent and impartial procedural laws. Access to an interpreter’s assistance in court is also one of the principles of the right to a fair trial set out in subitems (a) and (e) of item 3 of Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Despite this regulatory framework, failure to provide free legal interpretation/translation at the stage of court proceedings to persons who do not have a good command of the state language is an issue. In May 2019, the Commissioner sent a request to the Ministry of Justice to remove obstacles to receiving the free services of an interpreter/translator as part of the right to a fair trial. CHAPTER 6 Example