Under the Joint Project “Reinforcing Judicial Expertise on Freedom of Expression and the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)” co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe, a two-day event for lawyers and young legal professionals took place on 22 and 23 June 2017 in Ohrid. The event, in the form of training, was organised in co-operation with one of the project partners - the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, as the first of a set of capacity development measures that will follow under the partnership between the Council of Europe and the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association under the project JUFREX.
The current activity gathered 26 participants, most of whom are attorneys at law whereas the others are legal professionals from several towns in the country. The training was focused on the topic of “Freedom of expression: Defamation” and aimed at building up knowledge of the participants in their work related to the Freedom of expression. In particular, the training was specifically intended to empower present law practicing professionals to provide best defence in national defamation cases.
The training was jointly delivered by international expert Dr Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, former judge in the European Court of Human Rights, and national consultant Mr Lazar Sandev, attorney at law from Skopje. Their valuable lectures and inspiring exercises led to a very constructive debate and well structured dialogue.
