On November 6, 2017, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, held a training “Monitoring, Reporting and Specificity of Criminal Proceedings for Criminal Offenses with Elements of Corruption” at the Human Rights and Democracy House in Belgrade. The training was intended for law students attending legal clinics in the field of anti-corruption, as well as students of the IV year and the students at law faculties in Belgrade and was organized as part of the project “Empowering students of legal clinics for monitoring the trial for corruption”. The aim is to strengthen students at legal clinics and law schools, as well as other law students interested in this field, in order for them to independently monitor the trial for criminal offenses with the element of corruption.
The first part of the training was opened by Milan Antonijevic, director of YUCOM, who spoke about the goals of the project itself, as well as YUCOM’s previous experiences in this area, and the legal nature of these trials. After the introductory speech, a certificate was issued for students who actively participated in the trial monitoring during the previous semester. Snežana Nenadić, a member of the State Prosecutorial Council, then spoke to students about the experiences and challenges of public prosecutors in prosecuting criminal acts with elements of corruption. She devoted the second part of her lecture to the issue of informing the general public about the course of criminal proceedings, speaking about the challenges in responding to requests for information of public importance and the working relationship with the police. The next lecture was given by Omer Hadžiomerović, a judge of the Appellate Court, who introduced the students to the nature of the criminal acts with elements of corruption and the specificities of conducting court proceedings for these crimes. Both lecturers additionaly instructed students what to pay special attention to, in the implementation of the monitoring.
In the second part of the training, Milan Filipovic, YUCOM Legal Adviser, spoke to students about the importance and guidelines for monitoring the trial for criminal offenses with elements of corruption. This was followed by group work, where students analyzed individual cases and trial monitoring reports. The training was attended by law students, who in the following period will monitor trials for crimes with elements of corruption before the High Court in Belgrade and the Special Department of the Higher Court for Organized Crime.
