Judicial System of Ukraine

The judicial system of Ukraine is outlined in the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine. Before this there was no notion of judicial review nor any Supreme Court since 1991's Ukrainian independence. Inherited most of its principles from the court system of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR, the court system of Ukraine is slowly being restructured.

Although judicial independence exist in principle, in practise there is little separation of juridical and political powers. Judges are subjected to pressure by political and business interests. Ukraine's court system is widely regarded as corrupt. A Ukrainian Justice Ministry 2009 survey revealed that only 10 percent of respondents trusted the nation’s court system. Less than 30 percent believed that it’s still possible to get a fair trial. Ukrainian politicians and analyst have described the system of justice in Ukraine as "rotten to the core" and have complained about political pressure put on judges and corruption. Ukrainian judges have been arrested while taking bribe.

Court judges maintained a 99.5 percent conviction rate from 2005 till 2008, equal to the conviction rate of the Soviet Union. Suspects are often incarcerated for long periods before trial.

On July 25, 2012 a mass protest march took place from early morning to about 16:00 across the city of Kiev of about 3,500 participants mostly of whom were sports fans of FC Dynamo Kyiv. The event took place soon after a decision was adopted by the Holosiivsky District Court of Kiev City on the 2011-12 nationally renown Pavlichenko criminal case convicting a family of Pavlichenkos (father and son) to long-term sentence for killing a judge of the Shevskivsky District Court of Kiev City Serhiy Zubkov.