The article examines the procedural aspects of proceedings before the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine in terms of the right to a fair trial. For this purpose, the general stages of proceedings in the tribunal are identified, which may be further specified with the adoption of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. The authors have identified and briefly described the following stages of proceedings before the Special Tribunal: 1) initiation of an investigation; 2) decision on investigation and its conduct; 3) preparation of the indictment by the Prosecutor and its approval by the investigating judge; 4) preliminary proceedings and referral of the case to the Judicial Chamber for trial; 5) Trial proceedings (main proceedings); 6) Appeal against the decision of the Special Tribunal before the Appeals Chamber; 7) Enforcement of the sentence.

The rights of the accused person during proceedings before the tribunal are examined and analysed as a separate component of the right to a fair trial. The need to ensure that the persons involved in the investigation of crimes of aggression against Ukraine are informed of their rights is emphasised, which should be provided for additionally in the rules of procedure and evidence.

Cases of ensuring the right to personal and professional defence and the possibility of its restriction in accordance with Article 26 of the Statute of the Tribunal are considered and analysed. The importance of introducing the institution of in absentia is emphasised and the procedural conditions for its application are specified.

The need for additional regulation of the following issues in the proceedings of the Special Tribunal is summarised: clarification of the moment from which a person enjoys certain rights in the investigation; the obligation to inform a person of its rights in the investigation; determining the moment from which a person acquires the status of a suspect; clarification of the list of measures that may be applied to the defending party in accordance with Article 38 of the Statute of the Tribunal, the conditions for their proportional application; determination of the interests of justice in the context of proceedings in absentia; determination of the criteria for the admissibility of forms of notification in proceedings in absentia, etc.

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