On 21 September 2020, the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Prosecutors’ Training Centre (PTC) and the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), launched the HELP course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Ukraine. The course was launched for prosecutors of the OPG and selected regional prosecutor’s offices who work on the matters of international cooperation.
Natia Japaridze, Project Manager of the Council of Europe Project “Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in Ukraine”, explained the purpose of the HELP courses, underlined the importance of their adaptation to national contexts and thanked PTC, OPG, the course tutors and the participants for their interest and cooperation.
Olesia Otradnova, Director of the Prosecutors’ Training Center, highlighted the importance of cooperation with the Council of Europe regarding organisation and adaptation of the HELP courses. She also stated that the PTC is always open for educational initiatives and expressed hope that the course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters would contribute to the improvement of the participants’ knowledge.
Dmytro Litkevych, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the OPG, noted that during the times of COVID-19 pandemic, online courses play a significant role. In this regard, he expects this course to be effective and interesting for all the participants who will be able to use the obtained knowledge in practice.
Krystyna Khokhlova, HELP Project Coordinator based in Strasbourg, gave a general overview of the HELP online platform and presented to the participants the opportunities this Platform offers. She invited everyone to take part in various courses offered on the Platform.
Myroslava Krasnoborova and Dmytro Lotiuk, the tutors of the HELP course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, introduced the main topics of the course as well as guided the participants through the course online tools and explained how to use them. In turn, the participants shared their expectations for this HELP course.
The HELP course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters has been developed jointly by the Council of Europe HELP Programme and the Committee of Experts on the Operation of European Conventions on Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PC-OC). It consists of the following modules:
- Introduction
- Legal framework
- Extradition
- Mutual Legal Assistance
- Transfer of Sentenced Persons
- Supervision of Offenders, International Validity of Criminal Judgements and Transfer of Proceedings
- Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime
It is freely accessible on the HELP online platform in English, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian.
The launching event for the course in Ukraine was organized within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Human rights compliant criminal justice system in Ukraine”, which is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.
