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Calendar Updated: September 30, 2009
MDTF Activities > MDTF-JSS supporting capacity-building on anti-corruption for the judiciary and law enforcement authorities

MDTF-JSS supporting capacity-building on anti-corruption for the judiciary and law enforcement authorities

With rapid drafting and adoption of new laws, Serbia is attempting to respond swiftly to the requirements of EU accession and respond to the growing challenges presented by domestic and regional organized crime groups. Serbia is reacting to procedural gaps and legal loopholes of the existing legislation by strengthening the legal framework that deals with different challenges posed by organized crime in Serbia.

The ongoing work aimed at strengthening the legislative framework contains two basic tendencies; (i) shifting responsibilities towards the prosecutors in the investigation processes and trials; and (ii) encouraging closer collaboration between prosecutors, law enforcement authorities and judges. As a result, the investigation process and the criminal procedure itself will go through a major overhaul, and also completely new legal institutions will be established. To ensure timely and efficient implementation of this ambitious process, a comprehensive training syllabus for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies need to be developed.

Under the overall leadership of the Ministry of Justice and Judicial Training Center and in cooperation with the project “Improving the delivery of justice in Serbia” (financed by the Government of Norway), the MDTF-JSS is preparing the ground to support the Serbian authorities in this process. A project has been launched to develop specialized anti-corruption training curricula and deliver the actual capacity-building to key judiciary representatives and law enforcement authorities. 
 
The project comprises series of one-day capacity-building events which will focus on criminal provisions of the newly-introduced legislation pertaining to anti-corruption, seizure of assets and money laundering. Capacity-building events will be organized in several regional centres throughout Serbia, in Valjevo, Niš, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Vranje, Subotica and Novi Pazar. Each of these events will be attended by approximately 30 participants from the courts, prosecutors’ offices and law enforcement agencies from the targeted and neighbouring municipalities. 

Participants will be selected according to their experience in dealing with high-profile and high-value cases. The capacity-building will provide the participants (i) detailed insights into the new set of laws; (ii) methods on how to apply these laws in criminal cases; and (iii) a basis for more specialized capacity-building programs to be organized in the future.