25 judges and prosecutors from the Republic of Moldova participated in a training on the application and extension of constraint procedural measures, in particular the use of the risk of public disorder as a ground for applying pre-trial detention and house arrest. The seminar was organised by the Council of Europe Project "Strengthening the human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova" and the National Institute of Justice on 7 October 2022.

The seminar provided an opportunity for participants to exchange views and ideas on the procedure for examining the application of constraint procedural measures, the principle of proportionality within the constraint procedural measures in line with the ECtHR standards and the principle of equality of arms with regard to the access of the defence to the materials used by prosecutors to substantiate the application of the constraint procedural measure.

Building skills on constraint measures contributes to a better application and reasoning of the concept of reasonable suspicion in pre-trial and house arrest proceedings. Thus, the Council of Europe consultant, Mr Igor Dolea explained the procedural aspects on the risk of public disorder to the participants at the seminar and guided them, through practical tasks, to identify the conditions for applying the risk of public disorder in certain categories of offences. The expert referred to the case law of the ECtHR and national legislation in this field.

Referring to the seminar, Mr Dolea mentioned: "The topic of the seminar is a new and a very welcome one. The participants in the seminar were judges from courts of all levels and prosecutors from different prosecutor's offices and regions of the country, which indicates that this topic is of major interest, given that the risk of public disorder is only applicable as grounds for pre-trial detention and house arrest. Unlike other risks, it determines society's reaction to a person's behaviour and does not refer to the application of arrest to the accused person. In the Republic of Moldova, this risk is invoked more and more for various categories of offences and does not necessarily refer to offences of a violent nature."

The Council of Europe Project " Strengthening the Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in the Republic of Moldova" contributes to further strengthening the criminal justice system of the Republic of Moldova in the areas of combating ill-treatment and establishing a basis for a more humane approach towards sentencing in criminal cases.