only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life and that in such cases, officials shall identify themselves as such and give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms. Parliament also adopted a law151 on the creation of military prosecutors which would establish a Military Prosecutor's Office within the General Prosecution Office of Ukraine, to be headed by a Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine who will also be the Chief Military Prosecutor. The Prosecutor General can also authorise him/her to perform other duties. The law enables the military prosecutor's office to perform the functions of general prosecutors in exceptional circumstances, which are unspecified. If implemented in line with human rights standards, this law could fill a gap in the current criminal justice system in the east. Currently in most of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the judicial system, prosecutor and law enforcement do not function. Law enforcement and judiciary reforms Law enforcement The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched on 1 July a pilot project in Lviv, which would provide some preliminary research and assessments to develop nationwide police reform. This pilot project involves seven expert groups with a total of around 110 experts – policemen, representatives of civil society, sociologists and journalists – from different regions of Ukraine, who will examine all aspects of the current state of the police and propose changes, including possible draft legislation. According to some of the participating experts who met with the HRMMU, one proposal would be to link the efficiency of the work performed by the police, not to the number of crimes solved (as is currently the case), but to the public’s evaluation of safety in a particular city and its level of satisfaction with police activities. Another expert group proposes to introduce a lie detector test for anyone wishing to become a police officer. According to some of the experts, the root cause of many current problems with the police force is legislative and budgetary and these need to be addressed before any meaningful change will happen to the police. An additional problem that does not seem to be addressed in any of the expert groups’ mandates is the systemic corruption in the police force. In addition, according to the experts, reform of the police will not have the desired impact unless it is accompanied by simultaneous reform of the prosecutorial and judicial systems. Nevertheless, the experts noted that this project is the first time that central authorities have expressed the political will to change the law enforcement system and they considered this a hopeful breakthrough for a long-lasting improvement of police activity. Administration of justice On 3 July, a Temporary Special Commission152 began its assessment of the decisions and conduct of general court judges who considered civil, administrative or criminal cases related to Maidan mass protests held throughout Ukraine from 21 November 2013 and until the law entered into force of the law153 on 11 April 2014. The Commission will also review the decisions and conduct of judges who ruled on cases which were assessed by the European Court of Human Rights as having violated the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Any person or legal entity can request a judge to be assessed by the Commission under the above two circumstances. In addition the Commission will also review cases related to the October 2012 Parliamentary elections and the preceding election campaign. Only people whose rights were violated during these events can apply for the Commission’s review. The Commission will conduct its first C. 151 No. 4446a Amendments to the law “On prosecution”. Established according to the Law on Restoration of Confidence in Judiciary in Ukraine. 153 Law on Restoration of Confidence in Judiciary in Ukraine. 152 217 | P a g e

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