The extraordinary and challenging circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase on radicalisation, making this issue even more relevant. Increasing the capacities of legal professionals dealing with radicalisation cases is essential. In this context, under the framework of the European Union-Council of Europe project HELP Radicalisation Prevention, Judicial response to Terrorism and International Cooperation in Criminal Matters (RP-TERR-ICCM), the HELP course on Radicalisation Prevention was launched in six EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Latvia and Spain.
The course - second editions in the case of Italy and Spain, and first for the multinational group - will be followed by 93 judges and prosecutors.
The launch events, held online throughout September and October 2020, included an overview of the HELP programme and of the RP-TERR-ICCM project, as well as very relevant presentations by international experts addressing this topic from different angles. Rebecca Mundy, Head of the Counter Terrorism Division, Crown Prosecution Service UK (CPS), explained the role of the CPO and showed recent examples of terrorism-related cases in the UK. Kristian Bartholin, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe´s Counter-Terrorism Division provided a comprehensive update on the numerous activities being undertaken by the CoE in the area of terrorism and radicalisation. Pablo Ruz, former judge of the Special Criminal Court in Spain (Audiencia Nacional) shared the Spanish experience on terrorism matters, illustrated by recent case-law from the Spanish courts.
The launch sessions also offered an opportunity for participants to meet the course tutors and to receive all the practical information about how to follow and successfully complete the HELP course. Professor Ana Salinas, tutoring the Spanish group, Rebecca Mundy, tutoring the multinational group, and Fernanda Iannone, tutoring the Italian group, had a dedicated workshop with their respective groups.
Although these national/multinational course versions target selected groups, the HELP course on Radicalisation Prevention is available in 6 languages on the HELP online platform, together with other HELP courses related to the project, namely: International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Gathering and Use of Evidence in Counter-terrorism cases and Managing Foreign National Prisoners.
In parallel, experts from the Western Balkans region embarked on a role to become HELP tutors for the Radicalisation Prevention course, learning from the experiences of penitentiary and probation services from Spain, Carlos Fernández Gómez, and Belgium Jonathan Peromet.
