CCPE(2015)5REV
Strasbourg, 24 November 2015
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS (CCPE)
10th plenary meeting
Strasbourg, 19-20 November 2015
ABRIDGED MEETING REPORT
A. FOREWORD
1. The Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) held its 10th plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 19-20 November 2015. It was chaired by Cédric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium), President of the CCPE. The agenda and the list of participants are appended.
B. ITEMS SUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS FOR DECISION
2. The CCPE invited the Committee of Ministers:
a. to take note of Opinion No. 10 (2015) “on the role of prosecutors in criminal investigations";
and to note that this document would be forwarded to the relevant bodies in the member states, which would be encouraged to translate it into appropriate languages if need be, and to the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe in order that they may take account of it in their own work;
b. to take note of the Declaration on the recent terrorist attacks;
c. to take note of this report as a whole.
C. LIST OF ITEMS DISCUSSED AND DECISIONS TAKEN BY THE CCPE
3. honoured the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in different countries of the world; stressed that it was fully concerned by these attacks aimed to destroy the values of democracy, and that it supported the states and the investigative and judicial systems tasked with combating this barbarity;
approved the Declaration on the recent terrorist attacks (CCPE(2015)6) and instructed the Secretariat to ensure its dissemination, including to the Committee of Ministers;
4. took note of the information given by its President and its members who had participated in various fora where the work of the CCPE had been presented and discussed;
5. took note of the responses given by its Bureau to the requests regarding the situation of prosecutors in Georgia and Turkey, as well as of the responses given by its relevant members;
6. adopted its Opinion No.10(2015) “on the role of prosecutors in criminal investigations” (CCPE(2015)5), subject to possible amendments on the form by its Bureau, which is entrusted to do so if needed, in order to ensure the necessary consistency between the English and French versions;
decided to submit it to the Committee of Ministers to take note of it; invited the member States to ensure its distribution as far as possible among decision-makers and professionals of justice, including its translation where needed; decided to transmit it also to the observers to the CCPE as well as to the CEPEJ, the CCJE and the CDPC, so that they may take it into account in the course of their work;
7. welcomed the Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on "the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe"; noted with satisfaction that the Secretary General had requested that "the Consultative Council of European Judges and the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors urgently draft a comprehensive review of the main challenges for judicial impartiality and independence in member states";
took note of the on-going work within the task force set up to this end by the Bureaus of the CCJE and CCPE, aimed at delivering a report to the Secretary General at the beginning of December 2015;
noted that the report prepared under the authority of the two Bureaus would serve in particular as a basis for the Secretary General to prepare a Council of Europe Action Plan on the independence and impartiality of judicial systems; underlined its strong interest in being directly involved in the implementation of this Action Plan;
8. approved the draft Terms of Reference for 2016-2017 to be adopted by the Committee of Ministers and recalled that it was at the disposal of the Committee of Ministers and other bodies of the Council of Europe (particularly the Secretary General and the Parliamentary Assembly) to prepare opinions concerning the specific situation of prosecutors in given member States; to that end, reiterated its invitation to its members to indicate their availability to take part in a pool of experts to be requested to work accordingly;
9. decided to focus its 2016 Opinion on “the quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors, including as regards the fight against organised crime and terrorism” and instructed its Bureau and the select group appointed for 2016 to prepare a draft Opinion on this issue to be adopted at its 11th plenary meeting; proposed to focus its 2017 Opinion on “the rights of victims, witnesses and vulnerable persons”;
10. appointed Antonio MURA (Italy), Robert BIEVER (Luxembourg), Jovan ILIEVSKI (« the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia »), Ramazan KAYA (Turkey), Peter POLT (Hungary), Harald RANGE (Germany), José Manuel SANTOS PAIS (Portugal), Elzbieta SIDWA (Poland), Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA (Spain)as members, and Gordana BOSILJČIĆ (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Raija TOIVANEN (Finland) and Alexander ZVYAGINTSEV (Vladimir ZIMIN) (Russian Federation) as substitute members to the select group (CCPE-GT) responsible for preparing the 2016 draft Opinion to be submitted to the 11th plenary meeting of the CCPE;
11. entrusted its Bureau to prepare a Statement, on behalf of the CCPE, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg trial, which is the first implementation of an idea of an international criminal court, and instructed the Secretariat to ensure its dissemination through the website;
12. re-elected Cédric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium) as President, and Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark) as Vice-President, for 2016;
13. designated Raija TOIVIAINEN (Finland) as the Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2016;
14. proposed to hold its 11th plenary meeting on 17-18 November 2016;
proposed to hold the meetings of the select group (CCPE-GT) on 3-4 March 2016 and 2-3 June 2016 respectively.
APPENDIX I
AGENDA
1. Opening of the meeting
2. Adoption of the agenda
3. Information given by the President, Bureau members and the Secretariat
4. Discussion on the CCPE Opinion No. 10 entitled “The role of prosecutors in criminal investigations”
5. Information on the task entrusted by the General Secretary of the Council of Europe to the Task Force composed of the Bureaus of the CCPE and CCJE
6. Terms of Reference for 2016 and 2017
7. Election of the President and Vice-President
8. Nomination of the members of the CCPE-GT for 2016
9. Appointment of the CCPE Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2016
10. Relations between the CCPE and other bodies inside and outside the Council of Europe
· Participation of the CCPE in various European and international events concerning prosecutors
11. Requests for specific assistance
- Declaration of the Bureau on Turkey
- Creation of a network of experts to respond to requests for specific assistance
12. Any other business
- Next meetings of the CCPE
APPENDIX II
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
MEMBER STATES / ETATS MEMBRES
ALBANIA / ALBANIE
Mr Adriatik LLALLA, General Prosecutor of the Republic of Albania, Director of the Foreign Jurisdictional Dept, TIRANA
Apologised / Excusé
Mr Jonad BARA, Judicial Police Officer in the department of Foreign Juridictional relations in the General Prosecution Office of Albania, TIRANA
ANDORRA / ANDORRE
Mrs Nadia ALIS, Deputy Prosecutor, Office of the Prosecutor General, ANDORRA LA VELLA
ARMENIA / ARMENIE
M Yeghiazar AVAGYAN, Chef de la Division des affaires juridiques internationales du Parquet Général, EREVAN
AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE
Mr Franz PLÖCHL, Senior Deputy Prosecutor General, Generalprokuratur, Schmerlingplatz, VIENNA
AZERBAIJAN / AZERBAΪDJAN
Mr Erkin ALIKHANOV, Director, International Relations Department of the General`s Prosecutor Office, BAKU
BELGIUM / BELGIQUE
M Cedric VISART de BOCARME, Magistrat fédéral au Parquet fédéral belge, Chargé des relations internationales, Ancien Procureur Général de Liège, BRUXELLES
President of the CCPE /Président du CCPE
BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA / BOSNIE-HERZEGOVINE
Ms Gordana BOSILJČIĆ, Prosecutor, Office of the Chief Prosecutor, BiH Prosecutor's Office, SARAJEVO
BULGARIA / BULGARIE
Mr Sava PETROV, Prosecutor, Head of Analytical Department at the Supreme Court of Cassation, Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, SOFIA
CROATIA / CROATIE
Mr Josip ČULE, Deputy Attorney General, Head of International Legal Assistance and Cooperation Department, ZAGREB
Apologised / Excusé
CYPRUS / CHYPRE
Ms Olga SOPHOCLEOUS, Counsel of the Republic for the Attorney-General of Cyprus, NICOSIA
CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE
Ms Jana ZEZULOVA, Public Prosecutor, Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Analytic and Legislative Department, BRNO
DENMARK / DANEMARK
Ms Alessandra GIRALDI, Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, COPENHAGEN
Vice-President of the CCPE / Vice-Présidente du CCPE
ESTONIA/ ESTONIE
Mr Tristan PLOOM, State Prosecutor, Office of the Prosecutor General, TALLINN
FINLAND / FINLANDE
Ms Raija TOIVIAINEN, State Prosecutor, Head of the International Unit, Helsinki
FRANCE / FRANCE
M. Marc ROBERT, Procureur Général près la Cour d’Appel de Versailles, VERSAILLES
Apologised / Excusé
GEORGIA / GEORGIE
Mr Irakli DONDOLADZE, Chef Adjoint du Département Juridique, Parquet principal de la Géorgie, Ministère de la Justice de la Géorgie, TBILISSI
GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE
Mr Harald RANGE, Generalbundesanwalt i.R., KARLSRUHE
GREECE / GRECE
Mr Charalampos VOURLIOTIS, Deputy Public Prosecutor, Supreme Court of Greece, ATHENS
Apologised / Excusé
HUNGARY / HONGRIE
Mr Peter POLT, Prosecutor General of Hungary, BUDAPEST
ICELAND / ISLANDE
Mr Helgi Magnús GUNNARSSON, Deputy director, Director of Public Prosecution, REYKJAVIK
Apologised/ Excusé
IRELAND / IRLANDE
Mr Peter McCORMICK, Prosecutor, Directing Division, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutors, DUBLIN
ITALY / ITALIE
Mr Antonio MURA, Head of the Department for Justice Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, ROME
LATVIA / LETTONIE
Mr Aivars Ostapko, Head Prosecutor of the Department of Analysis and Management, General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Latvia, RIGA
LIECHTENSTEIN
Mr Frank HAUN, Deputy Prosecutor General, Office of the Public Prosecutor, VADUZ
Apologised / Excusé
LITHUANIA / LITUANIE
Mr Darius VALYS, Chief Prosecutor General, VILNIUS
Apologised / Excusé
LUXEMBOURG
M. Robert BIEVER, Procureur Général d'Etat du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG
MALTA / MALTE
Dr. Peter Grech, Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, VALLETTA
Apologised / Excusé
REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA / REPUBLIQUE DE MOLDOVA
Mr Corneliu GURIN, General Prosecutor, General Prosecutor's Office, CHISINAU
MONACO
M. Jacques DOREMIEUX, Procureur Général, MONACO
Apologised/ Excusé
MONTENEGRO
Ms Milica ANDJELIC, State Prosecutor in Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, PODGORICA
NETHERLANDS / PAYS‑BAS
Mr Han J. MORAAL, National member for the Netherlands at Eurojust, THE HAGUE
NORWAY / NORVEGE
Mr Runar TORGERSEN, Senior Public Prosecutor, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, OSLO
POLAND / POLOGNE
Ms Elzbieta SIDWA, Prosecutor, Department of International Cooperation, General Prosecutor’s Office, WARSAW
PORTUGAL
M. José Manuel SANTOS PAIS, Procureur Général Adjoint à la Cour Constitutionnelle du Portugal, LISBONNE
Apologised/ Excusé
ROMANIA / ROUMANIE
Ms Daniela Eugenia BADICA, Prosecutor, Service for International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, International Relations and Programs, Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice Romania, BUCHAREST
RUSSIAN FEDERATION / FEDERATION DE RUSSIE
Mr Alexander ZVYAGINTSEV, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Office of the Prosecutor General, MOSCOW
Mr Vladimir P. ZIMIN, First Deputy Head of International Legal Cooperation of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, MOSCOW
Mr Vadim OVCHINNIKOV, First Deputy Head of the Investigations Oversight Division of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, MOSCOW
Mr Anton MARKOVSKIY, Deputy to the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe
Ms Ekaterina PRITZ, interpreter
SERBIA / SERBIE
Mr Djordje OSTOJIC, Deputy Prosecutor General, Office of the Prosecutor General, BELGRADE
Apologised/ Excusé
SLOVAKIA / SLOVAQUIE
Ms Katarína LAIFEROVA, Head of the Office of the Prosecutor General, BRATISLAVA
Apologised/ Excusée
SLOVENIA / SLOVENIE
Mr Mirko VRTAČNIK, Supreme State Prosecutor Councillor, Deputy State Prosecutor General, LJUBLJANA
Apologised/ Excusé
SPAIN / ESPAGNE
Mr Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA, Deputy Attorney General for environmental matters, Fiscalia de medio ambiente y urbanismo, MADRID
SWEDEN / SUEDE
Ms Linda BILLFALK AKERLUND, Senior Public Prosecutor at the Swedish Prosecution Authority, STOCKHOLM
SWITZERLAND / SUISSE
Mr Paul-Xavier CORNU, Procureur général suppléant, Ministère public de la Confédération MPC, BERNE
Apologised / Excusé
"THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA" / "L'EX-REPUBLIQUE YOUGOSLAVE DE MACEDOINE "
Mr Jovan ILIEVSKI, Head of the Department for Prosecuting Organised Crime and Corruption, Public Prosecutor’s Office, SKOPJE
TURKEY / TURQUIE
Mr Ramazan KAYA, Member of the High Council of the Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey, ANKARA
Mr Burak Turan BENLI, Judge, Foreign Affairs & Project Department, the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, ANKARA
Mr Ozan Muzaffer KÖSTÜ, Reporter Judge, the High Council of the Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey, ANKARA
Mr Çağlayan Sayhan SOYDAN, interpreter
UKRAINE / UKRAINE
Mr Vitalii KASKO, Deputy Prosecutor General, Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, KIEV
Apologised / Excusé
UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND AND WALES) / ROYAUME UNI (ANGLETERRE PAYS DE GALLE)
Ms Elizabeth HOWE, General Counsel , International Association of Prosecutors, LONDON
Apologised / Excusée
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OBSERVER STATES/ ETATS OBSERVATEURS
KAZAKHSTAN
Mr Sergey DOSPOLOV, Head of Department for International Cooperation, Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ASTANA
Ms Gulnur ISSAYEVA, Senior Prosecutor of the Department for International Cooperation of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ASTANA
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COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S SECRETARIAT / SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
DG I – Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law / DG 1 – Direction Générale des droit de l’Homme et état de Droit
Division for the independence and the efficiency of Justice
Division pour l'indépendance et l'efficacité de la justice
(CCPE E-mail : [email protected] )
M. Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Head of the Division for the Independence and efficiency of Justice / Chef de la Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la Justice
Mr Artashes MELIKYAN, Co-Secretary of the CCPE /Co-Secrétaire du CCPE
Mme Christel SCHURRER, Administrator / Administratrice
Mme Annette SATTEL, Administration et Réseaux / Administration and Networks
Mme Anna KHROMOVA, Assistant / Assistante
Mme Marie-José SCHUTZ, Assistant/ Assistante
Mme Emily WALKER, Assistant/ Assistante
TRAINEE/STAGIAIRE
Ms Sumru OKAYER, Judge, Ministry of Justice, TURKEY
INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES
M. Christopher TYCZKA
Mme Isabelle MARCHINI