More than 40 Macedonian judges and Court clerks have attended the launch of the HELP course on Reasoning of criminal judgments, organised in cooperation with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.

Participants were welcomed by Prof. Dr Natasa Gaber-Damjanovska, Director of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, and could benefit from a thorough presentation on the European Convention on Human Rights requirements relating to reasoning of judgments by Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska, former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights elected in respect of North Macedonia.

Following the launching event, the HELP course on Reasoning of criminal judgments will be implemented over a two-month period for the benefit of Macedonian judges and Court clerks. The course will be moderated by Gabriela Gajdova and Velimir Delovski, HELP certified tutors.

By addressing the need of judges to align the extent and content of the reasoning of their judgments with the standards set under the European Convention on Human Rights in the process of domestic adjudication, the HELP course deals with the duty to give reasons under the European Convention on Human Rights.

On the same occasion, a certificate award ceremony was organised for those who successfully completed the HELP Training-of-Trainers session which was held in Skopje on 2-3 October 2019 in cooperation with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.

The event was organised in the framework of the HELP in the Western Balkans project, funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

Group photo from the launch of the HELP course on Reasoning of criminal judgements organised in North Macedonia under "HELP in Western Balkans". © Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors in North Macedonia