On 7 and 8 November 2019, a training workshop on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters was organized by the UN Regional Office for Central Asia in collaboration with the Judicial Cooperation Network for Central Asia and Southern Caucasus (CASC) and the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan. The workshop aimed to foster intra-regional cooperation between central authorities’ units responsible for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and discuss ways of enhancing the implementation of capacity-building for prosecutors and members of the judiciary. The workshop brought together representatives of General Prosecutor’s Offices of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, members of the General Prosecutor's Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan.
Ms. Maria de Las Hears Garcia, Director of the Centre for Legal Studies of the Ministry of Justice of Spain, and Mr. Alex Florienta, Chief Prosecutor of Timisoara Territorial Office of the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, led the training sessions and shared their expertise and good practices on MLA in fighting cybercrime cases. CASC contact points from participating countries made presentations on the national MLA legal frameworks and existing policy/procedures related to capacity-building that is carried out within their central authorities and/or national competent authorities. Thereafter, Mr. Uygun Nigmatdjanov, Deputy Head of the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan, introduced the module on international judicial cooperation for criminal justice practitioners and covered several key elements, such as target audience, duration, structures, and assessment modalities.
Recommendations stemming from the meeting consisted of ensuring the sustainability of training initiatives led by the CASC network, nominating personnel from central authorities to contribute to the drafting of training modules, and involving representatives of the private sector entities to enable the speedy and effective gathering of electronic evidence.
Within the second day of the workshop, the representative of the Ministry of Justice of Spain met with counterparts from the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office of Uzbekistan. The aim of the meeting was to introduce the training programs and facilities developed by the academy. Both sides expressed interest in crafting joint projects for training and capacity-building including study trips. In addition, the meeting agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding and develop a joint cooperation program for strengthening capacity-building initiatives designed for the judiciary personnel.
