OSCE trains Armenian prosecutors on international legal co-operation

YEREVAN, 8 February 2008 - The second of a series of two-day OSCE-organized seminars on international legal co-operation for Armenian prosecutors ended today in Yerevan.

Experts from the Council of Europe (CoE) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime presented CoE and UN legal documents on international co-operation in criminal matters and shared their experience on implementing those. National experts presented the Armenian legislation and experience of mutual assistance, extradition and transfer of proceedings.

The OSCE Office in Yerevan organized the seminars together with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office.

Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, said: "Within the context of multi-national law enforcement, the institutional, legislative and investigative responses often lack harmonisation, co-ordination and resources. This workshop is timely and relevant because the prosecutors can look for more effective forms of international co-operation in preventing organized crimes, such as trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and prosecuting perpetrators."

The seminars are part of the ongoing co-operation of the OSCE with the Armenian Prosecutor's Office in recent years. It promotes the institution's reform and supports its capacity to ensure the functioning of the criminal justice system.

"Transnational crime is a common reality in the OSCE area. Therefore international co-operation in criminal matters is an urgent necessity for participating States. It demands national efforts to comply with international standards and to build up the necessary national capacity to ensure successful co-operation," said Lars Gerold, Rule of Law Officer at the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.