OSCE Mission to Serbia, US Embassy support a seminar on seizure of assets gained through criminal activity
BELGRADE, 5 June 2009 - Some 40 Serbian judges, prosecutors, police officers and experts from the State Directorate for Management of Seized Assets are taking part in a two-day training seminar on Serbia's new Law on Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime which started today in Belgrade.
The seminar, organized jointly by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the U.S. Department of Justice at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade and the Judicial Training Centre, focuses on the new system of asset forfeiture in Serbia, practical problems related to its implementation and existing international standards.
""It is essential for police and the judiciary to understand all details of the new Law on Seizure of Assets, which enables state bodies to seize and confiscate 'criminal assets' from perpetrators of the most serious crimes. It also tries to establish a functional balance between effective investigation powers and respect of fundamental human rights," said Marco Bonabello, the OSCE Mission to Serbia's Legal Adviser.
"I believe that the discussions which we are having during the training course are extremely important for proper application of this law. This is a powerful new tool and we need to inform judges and prosecutors on how to incorporate it into the Serbian legal system," said Judge Miodrag Majic, the President of the Belgrade First Municipal Court, one of the trainers and co-authors of the law.
This seminar is a part of a comprehensive training programme which is being conducted in Novi Sad, Novi Pazar, Kragujevac and Nis and will end in October 2009. The OSCE Mission has actively supported Serbia's justice system in developing criminal asset seizure laws since 2004.