Legal provision of the jury trial in Ukraine in the framework of European standards

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which the current Ukrainian jury trial model operates effectively in practice. To achieve this objective, the study employs doctrinal and comparative legal methods. The research included a reconstruction of the relevant legislation together with examining domestic court practice. Furthermore, the Ukrainian approach was compared functionally with Convention-based guarantees, particularly those developed after the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the documents of the Council of Europe. The findings show that Ukraine’s jury system represents a hybrid one. Although several elements correspond to European fair-trial guarantees, compliance remains incomplete. Stronger guarantees are observed in areas such as proceedings transparency and the availability of appellate control. However, key aspects including juror independence, equality between the parties and the reasoning of judicial decisions  are either inadequately regulated or inconsistently applied. Hence, the effectiveness of the jury system depends not only on the availability of legal norms but also on coherence of their operation and consistency of implementation. The conclusions drawn in this study may contribute to further improvements in both legislation and judicial practice. Future research could usefully adopt empirical approaches and undertake broader comparisons with similar hybrid jury models across Europe.