The HELP course on Right to liberty and security was launched in Moldova for a mixed group of 35 participants (judges, prosecutors, lawyers and staff of the Governmental Agent’s Office), in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the Republic of Moldova. The launch is organised under the Council of Europe Programme “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova” funded by the Government of Norway.

The launching event was opened by William Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe office in Chisinau, Diana Scobioala, Director of the NIJ and HELP Focal point and national tutor, and Ana Medarska-Lazova, HELP Project Officer. The excellent cooperation of the NIJ and Council of Europe, including the HELP Programme, was stressed in the opening remarks. The practice of integrating systematically the HELP courses in the NIJ curriculum was commended (for example, the HELP courses on Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights and the Prohibition of Ill-treatment were incorporated in the initial training curriculum). It was indicated that until the end of 2019, the NIJ will have launched its 8th HELP course.

Following the general HELP presentation, including the recent developments in the HELP Programme, the national tutors Diana Scobioala and Alexandra Nica presented the national adaptation materials, the course schedule and the HELP platform use.

In the remaining part of the event, Konul Gasimova, international consultant and also a HELP certified trainer provided an introductory training to Article 5, including case studies and practical exercises.
The course will be implemented in the next two months. Following its completion, the successful participants will be certified jointly by the NIJ and the Council of Europe.

 News article in Romanian - National Institute of Justice of the Republic of Moldova