http://www.coe.int/documents/5492562/7044393/COE-Logo-Fil-BW.png/bb17a17e-5308-4fc0-929d-5c4baf3ab99d?t=1371222816000

CCPE(2016)4

Strasbourg, 18 November 2016

CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS (CCPE)

11th plenary meeting

Strasbourg, 17 - 18 November 2016

ABRIDGED MEETING REPORT

A.   FOREWORD          

1.     The Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) held its 11th plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 17 - 18 November 2016. 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. 11 (2016) on “the quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors, including in fighting terrorism and serious and organised crime”

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 this report as a whole.

C.   LIST OF ITEMS DISCUSSED AND DECISIONS TAKEN BY THE CCPE

The CCPE

3.     took note of the information given by its President and its members and observers who had participated in various fora where the work of the CCPE had been presented and discussed;

4.     adopted its Opinion No.11(2016) on “the quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors, including in fighting terrorism and serious and organised crime” (CCPE(2016)3), 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, the CDPC and its subordinated committees, and the CODEXTER, so that they may take it into account in the course of their work;

5.     welcomed the report entitled: “Challenges for judicial independence and impartiality in the member states of the Council of Europe” (SG/Inf(2016)3rev) prepared jointly by the Bureau of the CCJE and the Bureau of the CCPE for the attention of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe as a follow-up to his 2015 report entitled “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe – a shared responsibility for democratic security in Europe”;

in this context, noted that paragraph 142 of this report, regarding Poland, is based on various sources, not limited to the one cited in the report (which refers to the CCPE member in respect of Poland) and including the Council of Europe bodies and mechanisms working in this domain, as well as press and electronic media;

 

6.     welcomed the 2016 Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the "State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law – a security imperative for Europe";

noted with satisfaction that the Secretary General had requested to "develop the methodology and establish a regular in-house evaluation mechanism on the independence and impartiality of the judiciaries of the Council of Europe member states”, proposed in this connection to issue a Situation Report on an annual basis on the status of the public prosecution services in the member states, relying on information received from the CCPE members and on the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, the opinions of the Venice Commission, and the reports of the Human Rights Commissioner and of the Parliamentary Assembly; stressed that these reports would not contain ratings or rankings of member States’ performance and would not constitute a monitoring mechanism; agreed that this report would be a joint undertaking with the CCJE which would cover the situation of judges;

reiterated its readiness to be directly involved in the implementation of the Council of Europe Plan of Action on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality;

7.     noted that a large number of communications had been addressed to the members of the CCPE Bureau by Turkish magistrates alleging violations of their rights following the attempted coup in Turkey, referred in this regard to the Statement published by the CCPE Bureau on 22 July 2016 (CCPE-BU (2016) 2) and reiterated its concerns as regards the fate of prosecutors in Turkey; it took note of the statement by the delegation of Turkey in this context;

8.     according to its Terms of Reference, 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 2017 Opinion on “the rights of victims, witnesses and vulnerable persons”  and instructed its Bureau and the select group appointed for 2017 to prepare a draft Opinion on this issue to be adopted at its 12th plenary meeting;

10.  appointed Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark), Ramazan KAYA (Turkey), David MELKONYAN (Armenia), Antonio MURA (Italy), Franz PLÖCHL (Austria), Sava PETROV (Bulgaria), Cédric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium), Jana ZEZULOVA (Czech Republic), Vladimir ZIMIN (Russian Federation) as members, and Milica ANDJELIC (Montenegro) and Peter POLT (Hungary) as substitute members to the select group (CCPE-GT) responsible for preparing the 2017 draft Opinion to be submitted to the 12th plenary meeting of the CCPE;

11.  elected Peter McCORMICK (Ireland) as President, and José Manual SANTOS PAIS (Portugal) as Vice-President, for 2017; elected Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA (Spain) and re-elected Han MORAAL (Netherlands) as members of the Bureau for 2017 and 2018; thanked warmly Cédric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium) and Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark) for their commitment and the quality of their involvement in the work of the Bureau as President and Vice-President during several years;

12.  designated Sibel Demir SALDIRIM (Turkey)as the Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2017;

13.  thanked warmly its former President Harald RANGE (Germany) for his commitment and the quality of his involvement in the work of the CCPE since its creation;

14.  proposed to hold its 12th plenary meeting on 23 - 24 November 2017;

proposed to hold the meetings of the select group (CCPE-GT) on 30 - 21 March 2017 and 22 - 23 June 2017 respectively.


APPENDIX I

AGENDA

1.             Opening of the meeting

2.             Adoption of the agenda 

3.            Information by the President, the CCPE members and the Secretariat

4.            CCPE Opinion No. 11(2016)

·         Examination, in view of its adoption, of the draft Opinion No. 11 entitled “Quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors, including major current challenges in fighting terrorism and organised crime”

5.            Follow-up to the 2016 report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the “State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law - a security imperative for Europe” and to the Joint Report of the Bureaus of the CCJE and CCPE on the “Challenges for judicial independence and impartiality in the member states of the Council of Europe”

·           Discussion on the methodology of an in-house regular evaluation mechanism on the independence and impartiality of the judiciaries of the Council of Europe member States

6.            Working methods of the CCPE

·           Election of the President and of the Vice-President of the CCPE for 2017

·           Election of the CCPE Bureau for 2017-2018

·           Appointment of the CCPE Working Group for 2017

·           Appointment of the CCPE Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2017

7.            Calendar of the CCPE’s and CCPE-GT’s meetings in 2017

8.            Any other business


APPENDIX II

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

MEMBER STATES / ETATS MEMBRES

ALBANIA/ALBANIE:

Ms Rovena GASHI, Prosecutor, Director of the Foreign Jurisdictional Directory, General Prosecution office of Albania, TIRANA

(apologized / excusée)

ANDORRA/ANDORRE:

M. Ivan ALIS SALGUERO, Procureur Adjoint, Parquet Général de la Principauté d’Andorre, ANDORRA LA VELLA

ARMENIA/ARMENIE:

Mr Davit MELKONYAN, Deputy Prosecutor General, Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, YEREVAN  

AUSTRIA/AUTRICHE:

Dr Franz PLÖCHL, Senior Deputy Prosecutor General (Erster Generalanwalt), Generalprokuratur, VIENNA

AZERBAIJAN/AZERBAIDJAN:

Mr Erkin ALIKHANOV, Director of the International Relations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan, BAKU

BELGIUM/BELGIQUE:

M. Cédric VISART de BOCARME, Président du CCPE, Directeur du service d’appui commun auprès du Collège des procureurs généraux et du Collège du ministère public, BRUXELLES

BOSNIA AND 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 the Analytical Department, Court of Cassation, Office of the Prosecutor General, SOFIA

CROATIA/CROATIE:

Mr Josip CULE, Deputy Attorney General, Head of International Legal Assistance and Cooperation Department

(apologized / excusé)

 

CYPRUS/CHYPRE:

Ms Despina KYPRIANOU, Counsel of the Republic, Law Office of the Republic, NICOSIA

(apologized / excusée)

CZECH REPUBLIC/REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE:

Ms Jana ZEZULOVÁ, Public Prosecutor, Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Analytic and Legislative Department, BRNO

DENMARK/DANEMARK:

Ms Alessandra GIRALDI, Vice-President of the CCPE, Assistant Deputy Director, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, COPENHAGEN

ESTONIA/ESTONIE:

Ms Dilaila NAHKUR-TAMMIKSAAR, Chief State Prosecutor, Office of the Prosecutor General of Estonia, TALLINN

FINLAND/FINLANDE:

Ms Raija TOIVIAINEN, Deputy Prosecutor General, the Office of the Prosecutor General, HELSINKI

FRANCE:

M. Marc ROBERT, Procureur Général près la Cour d’appel de Versailles, VERSAILLES

(apologized / excusé)

GEORGIA/GEORGIE:

Ms Nana RAPAVA, Prosecutor of International Co-operation unit, Office of the Chief Prosecutor, TBILISSI

GERMANY/ALLEMAGNE:

Dr. Peter FRANK, Federal Public Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice, KARLSRUHE

Mr Harald RANGE, KARLSRUHE

GREECE/GRECE:

Mr Ioannis ANGELIS, Public Prosecutor at the Appeal Court of Athens, and  European Judicial Network (EJN) Contact Point for Greece, ATHENS

HUNGARY/HONGRIE:

Mr Peter POLT, Prosecutor General of Hungary, Office of the Prosecutor General, BUDAPEST

ICELAND/ISLANDE:

Mr Helgi Magnús GUNNARSSON, Deputy director, Director of Public Prosecution, REYKJAVIK

IRELAND/IRLANDE:

Mr Peter McCORMICK, Prosecutor, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, DUBLIN

ITALY/ITALIE:

Mr Antonio MURA, Head of the Justice Department, Ministry of Justice, ROME

Mr Luca FORTELEONI, Member of the High Council for the Judiciary, ROME

LATVIA/LETTONIE:

Ms Dagmara SKUDRA, Prosecutor of the International Cooperation Division, General Prosecutor’s Office, RIGA

LIECHTENSTEIN:

Mr Frank HAUN, Deputy Prosecutor General, Office of the Public Prosecutor, Principality of Liechtenstein, VADUZ

LITHUANIA/LITUANIE:

Mr Darius KARCINSKAS, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Department for Criminal Prosecution, Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, VILNIUS

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

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA/REPUBLIC DE MOLDOVA:

Mr Corneliu GURIN, General Prosecutor, General Prosecutor's Office, CHISINAU

(apologized / excusé)

MONACO:

M. Jacques DORÉMIEUX, Procureur Général, Parquet Général, MONACO

MONTENEGRO/MONTENEGRO:

Ms Milica ANDJELIĆ, State Prosecutor, Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, PODGORICA

NETHERLANDS/PAYS-BAS:

Mr. Han J. MORAAL LL.M.MPA, Chief Public Prosecutor, Eurojust, THE HAGUE

NORWAY/NORVEGE:

Ms Anne GRØSTAD, Senior Public Prosecutor, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, OSLO

Mr Runar TORGENSEN, Senior Public Prosecutor, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, OSLO

POLAND/POLOGNE:

Mme Elzbieta SIDWA, Procureur, Département de la Coopération Internationale, Parquet Général, VARSOVIE

PORTUGAL:

M. José Manuel SANTOS PAIS, Procureur-Général Adjoint à la Cour Constitutionnelle du Portugal, LISBONNE

ROMANIA/ROUMANIE:

Ms Daniela Eugenia Badica, Prosecutor, Service for International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, International Relations and Programmes, Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, BUCHAREST

THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION/FÉDÉRATION DE RUSSIE:

Mr Vladimir P. ZIMIN, First Deputy Head, the General Department of International Legal Co-operation, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, MOSCOW

Ms Anna SHEVCHENKO, Department of international legal cooperation,

Prosecutor General's office of the Russian Federation, MOSCOW

SAN MARINO-SAINT MARIN

SERBIA/SERBIE:

Mr Djordje OSTOJIC, Deputy Prosecutor General, Office of the Prosecutor General, BELGRADE

(apologized / excusé)

SLOVAK REPUBLIC/REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUE:

JUDr. Peter KYSEL, Prosecutor, the Special Prosecution Office, the General Prosecution Office of the Slovak Republic, BRATISLAVA

SLOVENIA/SLOVENIE:

Ms Irena KUZMA, Supreme State Prosecutor, the Office of the State Prosecutor General of the Republic of Slovenia, LJUBLJANA

SPAIN/ESPAGNE:

Mr Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA, Deputy Attorney General for environmental matters, MADRID

 

SWEDEN/SUEDE:

Ms Linda BILLFALK ÅKERLUND, Senior Public Prosecutor, STOCKHOLM

SWITZERLAND/SUISSE:

M. 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

(apologised / excusé)

TURKEY/TURQUIE:

Mr Ramazan KAYA, Member of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey, ANKARA

Ms Sibel Demir SALDIRIM, Rapporteur Judge at the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, ANKARA

Mr. Halil AKKIZ, Rapporteur Judge at the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, ANKARA

Ms Cağlayan SAYHAN SOYDAN, Interpreter

Ms.Gülce ATAY, Interpreter

UKRAINE

UNITED KINGDOM/ROYAUME-UNI:

Ms Judith REED, Unit Head, Organised Crime, International Justice and Organised Crime Division, Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, LONDON

OBSERVER STATES / ETATS OBSERVATEURS

MEXICO/MEXIQUE:

M. José Humberto LÓPEZ-PORTILLO SÁNCHEZ (Deputy Attaché for Legal Affairs, Legal Office of the Attorney General of Mexico (PGR) in Europe

KAZAKHSTAN:

Mr Sergey DOSPOLOV, Head of Department for International Cooperation, Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ASTANA

(apologized / excusé)

OBSERVERS / OBSERVATEURS

International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) / Association Internationale des Procureurs (AIP)

Mr Alexander ZVYAGINTSEV, Vice President for Europe of the IAP, Moscow, Russian Federation

Magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés (MEDEL)

Mr Alvaro Garcia ORTIZ, Board Member of MEDEL, Public Prosecutor, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

OTHER EXPERTS / AUTRES EXPERTS

MOROCCO/MAROC:

Mr Moulay Ahmed TAHIRI ALAOUI, Juge détaché à la Direction des affaires pénales et des grâces, RABBAT

Mr Najim BENSAMI, Procureur du Roi près du Tribunal pénal de première instance de Casablanca, CASABLANCA

COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S SECRETARIAT /

SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

Directorate General I - Human Rights and Rule of Law /

Direction Générale I - Droit de l’Homme et Etat de droit

Ms Hanne JUNCHER, Head of Justice and Legal Co-operation Department / Chef du Service de la coopération judiciaire et juridique

Tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 24 37, E-mail: [email protected]

Mr Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Head of the Division for the independence and efficiency of justice, Secretary to the CCPE / Chef de la Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice, Secrétaire du CCPE

Tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 44 55, E-mail: sté[email protected]

Mr Artashes MELIKYAN, Co-Secretary of the CCPE /Co-Secrétaire du CCPE

Tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21, E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Annette SATTEL, Administration et Réseaux / Administration and Networks

Tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Despina TRAMOUNTANI, Assistant / Assistante

Tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 62 95, Fax : + 33 (0)3 90 21 50 33,

E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Anna KHROMOVA, Assistant / Assistante

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 21 68; Fax: +33 (0)3 90 21 50 33, E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Blerina BULICA, Trainee / Stagiaire

INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES

Ms Corinne McGEORGE

Ms Cynera JAFFREY

Mr Didier JUNGLING