The purpose of the event was to facilitate a comprehensive professional discussion of current issues in criminal procedural law, taking into account the practice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the standards of the European Court of Human Rights, and the need to improve legal regulation under martial law.

As part of the public discussion, Andriy Yosypov, a partner at Barristers, spoke alongside other experts from our law firm. He presented a systematic analysis of the application of Article 615 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine for the years 2022–2025 and examined the constitutional dimension of its application—from Constitutional Court Decision No. 8-r(II)/2024 to Decision No. 3-r(II)/2026. Special attention was paid to the experience of preparing a constitutional complaint in the case of R. Chervinsky as an example of strategic legal advocacy by the bar.

Using the examples of complainants’ cases and actual court statistics, Mr. Yosipov analytically examined why the automatic extension of detention without a judge’s involvement violates the Constitution. In his view, martial law cannot serve as a justification for holding people in custody without a proper review of their cases, especially when the court has the objective capacity to function.

In addition, a number of other critical issues were raised during the discussion: ranging from ECHR standards and mechanisms for compensating victims to the problem of automatism in criminal proceedings and doctrinal approaches to restricting human rights during a state of emergency. The shared position of scholars, attorneys, and law enforcement representatives confirmed that piecemeal amendments no longer work.