OSCE Mission to Skopje completes training of legal practitioners on new criminal procedure

The OSCE Mission to Skopje is holding its final basic training course for legal practitioners and law enforcement officials on the new adversarial and parties-driven criminal procedure from 29 November till 2 December 2012.

The course is part of a two-year training cycle under an OSCE-supported project.

Throughout the two years more than 900 judges, public prosecutors, attorneys, legal associates and enforcement officials received basic training on the new criminal procedure, in order to be able to effectively implement the new Law when it comes into force in December next year.

The training participants looked at the major changes in the criminal procedure, such as the authority given to the public prosecutor to plan and lead investigations assisted by the police, the implications of a guilty plea for the defendant, and the use of new investigative techniques by the defence in preparing the case. The role of the court in protecting the rights of the defendant through the pretrial judge as an independent and impartial decision-maker and the trial panel, during an adversarial trial, was also discussed.

The goal of the OSCE project is to ensure that the increased level of procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings results in a more efficient procedure, and that fair trial standards and human rights are properly met and equally applied.

The training cycle was conducted in partnership with the national Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors and other institutions, as well as the US Embassy-OPDAT (Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training) Program.