Oleksandr Drozdov
Professor Oleksandr Mykhailovych Drozdov is a Ukrainian attorney-at-law, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, and Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine. His expertise lies at the intersection of criminal procedure, European fair-trial standards, international criminal law, and human rights protection.
His professional work combines legal practice, academic research, university teaching, and expert engagement in justice reform and quality assurance in higher legal education. Professor Drozdov is Professor at the Department of Criminal Procedure of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Professor at the Department of Criminal Law and Administrative Law Disciplines of the Faculty of Law of Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities, and is academically engaged with the University of Barcelona.
Professor Drozdov’s research focuses on Ukrainian criminal procedure, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, fair-trial guarantees, the right to defence, international cooperation in criminal matters, international criminal law, digital justice, academic integrity, and the resilience of legal education in wartime.
He is the author and co-author of numerous scholarly works, monographs, textbooks, teaching materials, and analytical publications devoted to criminal procedure, the legal profession, ECHR jurisprudence, and the implementation of European legal standards in national justice systems. His scholarship combines doctrinal analysis, practical advocacy experience, and a strong commitment to the rule of law.
Professor Drozdov is actively involved in professional, academic, and expert institutions. He serves as a member of the Appeals Chamber of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, a member of the Scientific Advisory Councils of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Court, and a member of the Legal Reform Commission under the President of Ukraine. From 2015 to 2019, he chaired the Higher Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar.
In his academic and professional work, Professor Drozdov is committed to advancing legal scholarship, strengthening the quality of legal education, protecting human rights, and integrating Ukrainian legal doctrine into the European and international research area.
His professional work combines legal practice, academic research, university teaching, and expert engagement in justice reform and quality assurance in higher legal education. Professor Drozdov is Professor at the Department of Criminal Procedure of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Professor at the Department of Criminal Law and Administrative Law Disciplines of the Faculty of Law of Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities, and is academically engaged with the University of Barcelona.
Professor Drozdov’s research focuses on Ukrainian criminal procedure, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, fair-trial guarantees, the right to defence, international cooperation in criminal matters, international criminal law, digital justice, academic integrity, and the resilience of legal education in wartime.
He is the author and co-author of numerous scholarly works, monographs, textbooks, teaching materials, and analytical publications devoted to criminal procedure, the legal profession, ECHR jurisprudence, and the implementation of European legal standards in national justice systems. His scholarship combines doctrinal analysis, practical advocacy experience, and a strong commitment to the rule of law.
Professor Drozdov is actively involved in professional, academic, and expert institutions. He serves as a member of the Appeals Chamber of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, a member of the Scientific Advisory Councils of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Court, and a member of the Legal Reform Commission under the President of Ukraine. From 2015 to 2019, he chaired the Higher Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar.
In his academic and professional work, Professor Drozdov is committed to advancing legal scholarship, strengthening the quality of legal education, protecting human rights, and integrating Ukrainian legal doctrine into the European and international research area.
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Papers by Oleksandr Drozdov
The central thesis of the opinion is that a prosecutor’s cassation appeal in favour of a convicted person does not constitute representation of a citizen’s private interests under Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Prosecutor’s Office” and does not transform the prosecutor into defence counsel or a private procedural representative of the convicted person. Such an appeal may be a legitimate form of exercising the prosecutor’s public function in criminal proceedings, provided that it is aimed at remedying a substantial defect affecting legality, fairness of the trial or the judicial legitimacy of the contested decision.
The opinion argues that the prosecutor’s right is neither unlimited, abstract nor paternalistic. It must be exercised only where there is a specific public-law interest, with due respect for the procedural autonomy of the convicted person, the prohibition of deterioration of his or her legal position, and the duty of the cassation court to conduct an independent review of the prosecutor’s arguments. The opinion proposes a functional test distinguishing prosecutorial objectivity from substitution of the defence function, representation of a citizen, the risk of reformatio in peius and the factual insufficiency of a particular cassation appeal.
Special attention is given to the case-law and standards of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the International Criminal Court, and comparative materials from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The opinion proposes a balanced legal formula: the prosecutor may react to a substantial defect in the administration of justice even where the procedural consequence may be favourable to the convicted person; however, the prosecutor may not become a second defence counsel, a representative of the citizen, or a procedural guardian of the convicted person’s private litigation strategy. This approach reconciles adversarial proceedings, dispositive autonomy, prosecutorial objectivity, the right of defence and the rule of law.
The study combines systemic interpretation, formal-dogmatic and comparative legal methods, and an analysis of the case law of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, in particular case No. 214/3756/24, the European Court of Human Rights, and relevant foreign approaches to representing persons who are objectively unable to instruct their counsel. It demonstrates that a legal assistance agreement may operate as a contract for the benefit of a third party and that counsel’s authority in cases involving prisoners of war should be assessed through the lenses of the pro actione principle, proportionality, and the standard of a “procedural surrogate of will”.
The article substantiates a presumption of validity of representation where there is official confirmation of captivity, a counsel’s warrant, and evidence of a close family or de facto relationship of the person who concluded the agreement. It further shows that this model is relevant in criminal proceedings, in particular where a prisoner of war is recognized as a victim, exercises procedural rights, or brings a civil claim within criminal proceedings concerning war crimes and related offences. The practical significance of the findings lies in providing guidance for courts, lawyers, prosecutors, and the legal aid system on verifying representative authority, preventing conflicts of interest, and improving special procedural mechanisms for the protection of persons deprived of personal liberty as a result of armed aggression.