[Online Judicial Trainings]: Pokrovsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih Online Judicial Training Course, July – August 2025

Over the course of four weeks, from 11 July to 1 August 2025, Asser Institute, together with the Pokrovsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih, organised weekly online training sessions for court staff members, including judges, legal assistants, clerks and others.

The programme consisted of four sessions dedicated to four topics requested and developed with the Court, with great support from Judge Myhailo Zimin, namely: 

• Directing Attacks Against Civilians or Civilian Populations Not Directly Participating in Hostilities; 
• Understanding International Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law Terminology;
• Forced Conscription and Use of Protected Persons in Hostilities;
• Legal Qualification of Conflict-Related Crimes under Ukrainian Law; 

The training course allowed Ukrainian judges and legal staff from the Pokrovsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih City to learn from and exchange insights with international experts, such as Philip Dygeus, Lieutenant Colonel (OF-4), Legal Advisor, Swedish Armed Forces, Dr Gurgen Petrossian, Senior Officer for International Criminal Law, International Nuremberg Principles Academy, and Valerie Gabard, Co-Founder & Co-Director, UpRights.

Participants gained important knowledge from the sessions, which proved highly useful in strengthening their overall understanding of IHL and its application in situations of armed conflict. The judicial training clarified legal concepts, explained how these rules function in practice, and outlined the relationship between international standards and national legislation. This combination of conceptual clarity and practical application made the training an important step in supporting judges and courts in building their capacity to adjudicate war crimes. 

Pokrovsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih Online Judicial Training Course was led by T.M.C. Asser Institute’s - Junior Researcher, Gabriela Radu (g.radu@asser.nl). 

About this project:
The training series has been organised as part of the ‘Restoring Dignity and Justice in Ukraine' consortium programme, focusing on advancing accountability for international crimes committed in Ukraine. The programme is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is implemented by the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO), in partnership with the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, the Centre for International Legal Cooperation (CILC), and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC).