Serbian anticorruption judges and prosecutors meet to discuss case law and share best practices

The second working meeting of judges and public prosecutors from Anticorruption departments in Higher Courts and Prosecutors Offices from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kraljevo was held in Belgrade on December 1 and 2. This is the second in the series of peer-to-peer events of legal practitioners aimed at assessing the performance, best practices and challenges in the work of the Anticorruption departments, and the support to the participants for their dedicated work in the fight against corruption was given by Mr Carsten Meyer-Wiefhausen, Permanent Representative of the Ambassador and Deputy Head of Division, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in his opening speech.

Judges and prosecutors assessed the implementation of the institutes from the Law on Organised Crime and Corruption and reviewed the most current case law, with particular focus on money laundering and extended confiscation. The event aimed at contributing to better coordination and case law harmonisation across four Anticorruption departments of courts and prosecutor`s offices. The participants agreed on the set of recommendations towards improving relevant provisions in legislation and by-laws, and proposed changes in practice that should result in better performance of the Anticorruption departments.

Mr. Stefan Schlotter, Public Prosecutor from Germany presented experiences of Public Prosecutor`s Office in Frankfurt in prosecution and adjudication of cases of corruption and commercial crime.

Foto: Velibor Ciric, za GIZ

The importance of high number of attendants was emphasized, as well as attendance by the presidents of higher courts in Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Kraljevo and the presidents of criminal sections of all four appellate courts, for the first time, which indicates the importance of the meetings, as an example of good practice in the further work of the Anticorruption departments.

Following the conclusions from the prior meeting, court spokespersons and media coordinators from courts and prosecutor`s offices also attended and provided insight into best practices on internal and external communication and public outreach towards citizens and media.

Second in a row working meeting of the Anticorruption departments in Higher Courts and Prosecutors Offices was organized in cooperation with the multi-partner project “Strengthening Rule of Law in the Republic of Serbia” financed by the EU, and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, together with the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Higher Court in Belgrade.