Republic of Moldova

Council of Europe Office in Chisinau

In the period of 5-7 February 2018, several activities took place under the umbrella of the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) targeting legal professionals in the Republic of Moldova, in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Union of Lawyers of the Republic of Moldova and with the support of the Council of Europe project “Support to criminal justice reforms in the Republic of Moldova” financed by the Government of Denmark.  

On 5 February two HELP courses were launched for the judges, lawyers and prosecutors of Moldova. The HELP tutored course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters was piloted for about 20 judges and prosecutors in cooperation with the NIJ. The course has been adapted to the national legal context and will be tutored by national tutors Ms Alexandra Nica, HELP certified tutor, and Ms Violeta Cojucaru. On the same day HELP course on Prohibition of ill-treatment was launched for about 20 lawyers and trainee lawyers in cooperation with the Union of Lawyers and will be tutored by Mr Vadim Vieru, HELP certified tutor. Both courses will be implemented in the period of 5 February -18 March 2018.

At the same time 28 judges and prosecutors and 22 lawyers were certified upon successful completion of HELP courses on Prohibition of ill-treatment and Pre-trial investigation and the ECHR respectively, which were launched in December 2017.

Most importantly, two day HELP training of trainers course (ToT) was held on 6-7 February for a group of 21 legal professionals, including judges and prosecutors delegated by the NIJ, the Governement Agent, lawyers, staff representatives of the Ombudsperson’s office and Equality Council, as well as civil society representatives. The aim of the ToT was to train the participants on the HELP on-line training methodology, specificities of tutoring HELP courses and skills to navigate on the HELP on-line platform where the courses are being implemented. By the completion of the ToT, there will be over 20 HELP tutors in the Republic of Moldova, who will be able to deliver HELP courses to target groups of legal professionals of Moldova, thus disseminating knowledge and skills on the application of the ECHR standards on the national level.   

It is worth mentioning that all HELP courses implemented in Moldova are fully integrated into the training curricula of both the NIJ and the Moldovan Bar Association and are being re-launched by the institutions without further external support.

This activity falls within one of the specific objectives of the project “Support to criminal justice reforms in the Republic of Moldova” - "To enhance capacity among key stakeholders to ensure the compliance of the criminal justice sector legislation with European standards and to support the institutional reform of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS)".