The competence of a judge is a guarantee of access to justice in war crimes cases

War crimes cases are considered new for the Ukrainian judiciary. Before the full-scale invasion there were no criminal proceedings concerning Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU) «violation of the laws and customs of war». Therefore, judges had no chance to obtain and practice the skills to adjudicate war crimes cases, which caused difficulties for them. Over time, challenges that national courts faced during wartime have become the subject of professional discussion, and one of the cross-cutting themes in this discourse is access to justice – both for victims of war crimes and for suspects and accused. Given that the concept of «access to justice» in the national legislation and doctrine is relatively new and «borrowed», the original sources should be used to clarify its content and scope, primarily The Rule of Law Report (2011) of the Venice Commission. Considering the role of the judiciary as the guarantor of justice, the author identified competencies Ukrainian judges should obtain to adjudicate criminal proceedings concerning Art. 438 of the CCU in ensuring access to justice. Based on the analysis of the various sources (judicial needs assessment reports, reports on the monitoring of court proceedings and the post-training feedback of judges) specific knowledge, abilities and skills necessary for a judge to consider war crimes cases have been identified. Also, the expert, methodical and social competence of a judge is singled out, and their specific manifestations are outlined. In particular, one of the most important skills (as an example of expert competence) is the formulation of an indictment, recognized by the court as proven, with an indication of the relevant norms of international law, to which Art. 438 of the CCU makes a reference. The level of methodological competence (that is, the ability to independently acquire new knowledge and master new working methods) is facilitated by tools such as the «route to verdict». Similar examples of knowledge, abilities and skills illustrate the link between judicial competence and the requirements of the rule of law regarding access to justice. Key words:access to justice, rule of law, war crimes, competence of a judge, court.