Strasbourg, 16 April 2015
CCPE-GT(2015)1
WORKING GROUP OF THE
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS
(CCPE-GT)
Report of the 16th meeting
Strasbourg, 12 – 13 March 2015
Document prepared by the Secretariat
Directorate General I - Human Rights and Rule of Law
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Working Group of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE-GT) held its 16th meeting in Strasbourg on 12-13 March 2015. The meeting was chaired by Mr Cedric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium), President of the CCPE.
2. The agenda and the list of participants are reproduced in Appendices I and II respectively.
II. COMMUNICATION BY THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU AND WORKING GROUP OF THE CCPE
3. The President informed about his participation, on behalf of the CCPE, in the Working Group on prison overcrowding established by the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC). The aim was to prepare a white paper on prison overcrowding. The first meeting of the Working Group took place on 8-9 December 2014 and the second meeting will take place in May 2015.
4. The President also introduced to the members of the Working Group Mr Jesper HJORTENBERG, the Chairman of the CDPC, who briefly presented the structure and working methods of this Committee.
5. The President continued to update the members of the Working Group concerning the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) and the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competition open since September 2014 and already signed by 17 States. He would participate, on 17-18 March 2015 in Oslo, in a conference on the promotion and implementation of this Convention and would explain its criminal provisions.
6. The EPAS asked the Sorbonne University to prepare a handbook on the exchange of information to combat sports manipulations. The CCPE was requested to provide information on best practices and to make observations on the draft of the handbook. Therefore, the President asked the members of the Working Group to possibly consider the participating in this work, either by means of themselves or by other representatives from their national prosecution services who had the necessary expertise in this area.
7. The President mentioned the letter received by Mr Askhat DAULBAYEV, Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, requesting observer status to the CCPE. Mr Alexander ZVYAGINTSEV (Russian Federation) and Mr Harald RANGE (Germany) supported this request. The CCPE-GT entrusted the Secretariat to ensure the usual follow-up of such request.
8. An exchange of views was organized concerning the topics for the CCPE Opinions in 2016 and 2017. The following topics were mentioned:
§ fight against terrorism and extremism;
§ protection of environment as a role of prosecutors;
§ fight against corruption in the society at large and particularly in the prosecution systems;
§ the relations between prosecutors and lawyers;
§ the relations between prosecutors and victims;
§ the quality of the work of prosecutors and in which conditions can they be really efficient;
§ the role of prosecutors to assure the rights of the defence and of victims.
III. PREPARATION OF THE OPINION NO. 10 ON RELATIONS BETWEEN PROSECUTORS AND INVESTIGATION SERVICES
9. The President presented to the Working Group the draft structure of the Opinion No. 10 (document CCPE-GT(2015)1) prepared by the Bureau and mentioned that this document was intended to give an overall outline to start discussing the topic. He also mentioned the questionnaire (document CCPE (2015)1) sent to all member states with the deadline of 15 April 2015.
10. During a general discussion, various topics were mentioned:
· cases when prosecutors may impose sanctions on some persons or officials before the judicial proceedings;
· mandatory investigations, where it is obligatory to start the criminal investigation, and discretionary investigations, where it is optional;
· the competence and possibilities for the prosecutors to take sanctions against police, and whether the prosecutors should control the actions of the police;
· how far the circle of investigation bodies could be considered, and which bodies having the competence to investigate could be examined;
· terrorism, financial crimes, cybercrimes, etc.;
· the duty of confidentiality and relations between prosecutors and investigation bodies from this point of view;
· undue delays and the power for the prosecutor to finalise the case;
· ethical issues, including of the police;
· the duty of the prosecutors to verify the lawfulness of the investigations
11. The President stated that the Opinion should aim at two important elements: 1) relations between prosecutors and police; 2) relations between prosecutors and investigation. It should highlight what are the measures, limits and general principles, the principle of subsidiarity, techniques of investigations and other important issues.
12. Ms Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark) mentioned that it would be a good idea to have a chapter on the strategy of investigations. Prosecutors are the masters of the cases they decide; they work towards the result and try to steer the investigations in the right direction at an early stage.
13. Ms Raija TOIVIAINEN (Finland) said that the Opinion should not explain the systems, but should provide recommendations: how the authorities are suited to act in the investigation stage? What is the optimal way to deal with the investigations? Who are the parties involved in the investigation? Thus, the text of the Opinion should be at general level, but it should highlight how investigations may be organised.
14. The Working Group, after discussions, refined the future possible title for the Opinion No. 10 and decided on the following: “The action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation”.
15. The Working Group elaborated further and finalised the structure of the Opinion (document CCPE-GT(2015)1REV3) and entrusted its members with the task of preparing the specific chapters before 30 May 2015. The Secretariat would prepare the introduction of the Opinion (including a description of the different systems that existin Europe, list of relevant international instruments, purpose of the Opinion and the area of its application). After receiving the draft chapters from the designated members of the Working Group, the Secretariat would prepare the consolidated draft and send it, in the course of the first week of June 2015, to the Bureau which will refine the text and send it back to the Secretariat before the next meeting of the Working Group.
IV. OTHER WORK OF THE CCPE
16. The President informed the members of the Working Group about the complaint from Ukraine submitted by the Chairman of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe alleging that the prosecutor office and police searched certain courtrooms, judges and court personnel, that this action was without foundation and it was intended to put pressure on the judiciary. The Secretary General decided to forward this complaint for consideration by the CCPE as well as the CCJE. The members of the Bureau discussed possible observations in this regard and drafted a response which would be finalised soon and sent to the parties concerned.
V. OTHER BUSINESS
17. The next meeting of the CCPE Working Group would take place in Paris on 25-26 June 2015.
APPENDIX I
AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR
1. Opening of the meeting / Ouverture de la réunion
2. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour
3. Communication by the President, members of the Bureau and the Secretariat / Communication du Président, des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat
4. Preparation of the CCPE Opinion No. 10 on relations between prosecutors and investigation services / Préparation de l’Avis No. 10 sur les relations entre les procureurs et les services d’enquêtes
5. Other work of the CCPE / Autres travaux du CCPE
Requests of specific assistance / Demandes d’assistance spécifique
6. Any other business / Divers
APPENDIX II
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
MEMBERS OF CCPE-GT / MEMBRES DU CCPE-GT
FINLAND / FINLANDE
Ms Raija TOIVIAINEN, State Prosecutor, Head of the International Unit, Helsinki
GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE
Mr Harald RANGE, Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof, Karlsruhe
HUNGARY / HONGRIE
Mr Peter POLT, Prosecutor General of Hungary, Budapest
Italy / Italie
Mr Antonio MURA, Head of Department for Justice Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Roma
MONACO
Mr Jean-Pierre DRENO, Procureur Général, Parquet Général, Monaco
PORTUGAL
Mr José Manuel SANTOS PAIS, Procureur-Général Adjoint à la Cour Constitutionnelle du Portugal, Lisbon
Russian Federation / Fédération de Russie
Mr Alexander Grigorievich ZVYAGINTSEV, Deputy Prosecutor General, Office of the Prosecutor General, Moscow
Mr Vladimir P. ZIMIN, First Deputy Head, General Department of International Legal Cooperation, Office of the Prosecutor General, Moscow
Spain / Espagne
Mr Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA, Deputy Attorney General, Madrid
UKRAINE (excused / excusé)
Mr Vitalii KASKO, Deputy Prosecutor General, Ukraine
***
MEMBERS OF CCPE-BU / MEMBRES DU CCPE-BU
BELGIUM / BELGIQUE
(President of CCPE / Président du CCPE)
Mr Cedric VISART de BOCARME, Chef de Cabinet, Ministère de l’Intérieure, Bruxelles
DENMARK / DANEMARK
(Vice-President of CCPE / Vice-Président du CCPE)
Ms Alessandra GIRALDI, Assistant Deputy Director, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Copenhagen
IRELAND / IRLANDE
Mr Peter McCORMICK, Prosecutor, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutors, Dublin
THE NETHERLANDS / LES PAYS-BAS (excused / excusé)
Mr Han MORAAL, EUROJUST, The Hague
***
COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S SECRETARIAT /
SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law/
Direction Générale des droits de l’homme et de l’état de droit
Division for the independence and efficiency of justice /
Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: + 33 (0) 88 41 37 43
Ms Muriel DECOT, Secretary of the CCPE / Secrétaire du CCPE, tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 44 55; e-mail: [email protected]
Mr Artashes MELIKYAN, Co-Secretary of the CCPE / Co-Secrétaire du CCPE, tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 47 60; e-mail: [email protected]
Ms Anna KHROMOVA, Assistant / Assistante, tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 48 39, e-mail: [email protected]
Ms Marie-José SCHUTZ, Assistant / Assistante, tel. + 33 (0) 88 41 34 86, e-mail: [email protected]