Strasbourg, 28 September 2015

CCPE-GT(2015)6

WORKING GROUP OF THE

CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS

(CCPE-GT)

Report of the 17th meeting

Paris, 25 – 26 June 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 17th meeting in Paris on 25-26 June 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 Working Group was informed that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Georgia requested the Council of Europe to provide an expert opinion on the draft amendments to the Law on Prosecutor’s Office, and this task was assigned to the CCPE and the Venice Commission. The President thanked several members of the Bureau and the Working Group for their contributions to the Opinion prepared on this subject (document CCPE (2015)2). The President of the CCPE, together with Mr José Manuel SANTOS PAIS (Portugal) and the Secretariat participated in a meeting with Georgian authorities and NGOs in the framework of a meeting of the Venice Commission (Venice, Italy 20 June 2015).

4.             The comments of the CCPE concerned in particular the procedure of appointment and removal of the Chief Prosecutor, the establishment of new bodies such as the Prosecutorial Council and the Conference of Prosecutors, the system and organisation of the prosecutor’s offices. The proposals included the composition of the Prosecutorial Council which should preferably consist of a minimum of 51% of prosecutors as a sufficient independence guarantee. The possible changes in the prosecution system should preferably be made by changing the law, not by a simple decision of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), counterbalancing the power of the MoJ to intervene in individual cases, etc.

5.             In the light of the discussions and the clarifications given by the Georgian authorities, the Joint Opinion of the CCPE and the Venice Commission would be prepared and sent to the Georgian authorities. It was also decided to organise a follow up of the meeting when the text would be revised.

6.             The President informed the Working group on his participation to the International Conference on the Promotion and Implementation of the Convention on the Manipulation of Sport Competitions (Oslo, 17-18 March 2015).

7.             He also attended the meeting of the Working Group on prison overcrowding established by the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) aiming to prepare a white paper on prison overcrowding (8-9 December 2014) and indicated that he was not able to take part in its meeting in May 2015.

8.             Mr Peter POLT (Hungary) reported about the adoption of the Visegrad Declaration by the Prosecutors General of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The Declaration’s first part was on the European Public Prosecutor, second part on the CCPE’s Rome Charter and the third part on the relations between prosecution and police. This Declaration would be put on the CCPE website.

 

9.             The members of the Working Group mentioned the increasing need for experts who may highlight the best practices as regards the status of prosecutors and exercise of their functions. The Secretariat mentioned that within the framework of the projects dealt with by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), and dealing with developing the justice systems in the member countries, there has been demand for relevant experts, and that the CCPE members were very welcome to share their knowledge and expertise on the quality of justice, duration of proceedings and other pertinent subjects. However, such activities required flexibility and involvement from the experts at short notice. 

10.          Mrs Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark) underlined that indeed, there was a need to have a group of potential experts who would be interested and willing to participate at short notice, and invited the members of the Working Group to think of their participation and of suggesting their colleagues as well upon interest and availability.

Follow-up to the report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe

11.          The Secretary General of the Council of Europe entrusted the CCPE to prepare, together with the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), a comprehensive review of the main challenges for judicial impartiality and independence in the member states, as a follow-up to his recent report entitled “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe” which had identified lack of judicial independence as one of the biggest challenges for democracy.

12.          The President mentioned that the CCPE Bureau members were invited to Strasbourg on 3 July 2015 to meet the Secretary General to discuss the substance of this document, together with the members of the CCJE Bureau.

13.          The text of the document would have to be prepared for the end of this year; the members of the Working Group are requested to send, as soon as possible, available information on the challenges for the impartiality of prosecutors in their countries. A draft report would be prepared by a common expert to CCJE-CCPE.

14.          Mr Antonio MURA (Italy) expressed his concern regarding the risk that the report could bemainly oriented to the court and the judges, without enough specific references to the prosecution. He underlined that the independence of the prosecution service is necessary for the independence of justice.

 

The 2016-2017 CCPE terms of reference

15.          Several topics for the CCPE Opinions in 2016 and 2017 were discussed, in particular:

·         victims and vulnerable persons in criminal investigations and the role of prosecutors in protecting their rights;

·         quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors;

·         prosecution of terrorist cases and international cooperation;

·         fight against extremism;

·         ecological problems.

 

III.        PREPARATION OF THE OPINION NO. 10

16.          The President presented to the Working Group the draft Opinion No. 10 on the action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation (document CCPE-GT(2015)4REV1) which resulted from a collective effort of all members of the Working Group and the Secretariat, and thanked everyone for their contributions.

17.          During a general discussion, the following points were mentioned:

·         the responsibility of prosecutors;

·         the necessity of setting priorities for investigating crimes;

·         how to deal with complaints received by prosecution services;

·         the scope of autonomy of the police;

·         the power of prosecutors to prevent or stop investigations;

·         the hierarchical relations between prosecutors and investigation;

·         the specialisation of prosecutors;

·         the correlation between the number of investigators and the number of prosecutors, and financial and technical means;

18.          It was suggested to reduce the number of articles of the draft, to ensure consistency of terms and terminology, to avoid duplication and not to forget that the text is addressed mainly to prosecutors.

19.          It was decided that the Secretariat would finalise the new draft and send it to the Bureau members, who would return their comments for further revision of the text before 15 August 2015. Thereafter, the Secretariat would prepare the consolidated text and forward it first to the members of the Working Group, and then to all CCPE members for their possible comments before the plenary.

IV.        OTHER WORK OF THE CCPE

Turkey

20.          The members of the Working Group discussed the numerous complaints relating to alleged threats to the impartial and efficient functioning of prosecution services in Turkey alleging that “the rule of law has been suspended in Turkey”, and that, “contrary to the Constitutional rule”, prosecutors, as well as judges and police officers, were more and more subjects to transfers, dismissal from office, and even arrests and prosecution. These alleged practices were reported to be the result of the diligent fulfilment by the victims of their professional duties.

21.          The President emphasised how important this point was, and the CCPE Bureau started to draft a document on this subject. He also mentioned that the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) was also contacted on this subject and prepared its comments which were published on the CCJE website.

22.          It was agreed to follow up on the evolution of the situation in Turkey, and to prepare accordingly a Declaration to be adopted by all CCPE members.

V.         OTHER BUSINESS

23.          The CCPE plenary meeting would take place in Strasbourg on 19-20 November 2015.

APPENDIX I

AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

  1. Opening of the meeting / Ouverture de la réunion

  1. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour

  1. Communication by the President, members of the Bureau and the Secretariat / Communication du Président, des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat

  1. Preparation of the CCPE Opinion No. 10 on the action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation / Préparation de l’Avis No. 10 sur l’action des procureurs dans le cadre d’une enquête pénale

  1. Follow-up to the report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe entitled “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe – A shared responsibility for democratic security in Europe” / Suivi du rapport du Secrétaire Général du Conseil de l’Europe intitulé “Situation de la démocratie, des droits de l’homme et de l’Etat de droit en Europe – La sécurité démocratique, une responsabilité partagée”

  1. Other work of the CCPE / Autres travaux du CCPE

·         Requests of specific assistance / Demandes d’assistance spécifique

 

  1. Any other business / Divers

·         Next meeting / Prochaine réunion

 
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

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

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]