Workshop on criminal offenses held in Chisinau

Chisinau, 19 June /MOLDPRES/- A workshop focused on accusation of criminal offenses in the context of conflict settlement - learned lessons and good practices from promoting peace processes was held on 18 June. The event was organised by the Bureau for Reintegration, following an initiative by Deputy Prime Minister Victor Osipov. Employees of all institutions empowered with right to ascertain, initiate and investigate criminal offenses participated in the workshop, the Bureau for Reintegration has reported.

Attending the event were representatives of presidential and parliamentary apparatus, as well as the one of Prosecution, led by Prosecutor General Corneliu Gurin. The workshop was organised and supported jointly by Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), Foreign Ministry of Finland, British Embassy in Chisinau, CAUSEWAY Peace Institute. The event's goal was to facilitate exchange of data and ideas between specialists from Moldova and international experts, who had presented the good practices on managing issue of criminal files at negotiations on conflict settlement from other countries.

The local and international experts exchanged opinions about positive experience of some states in managing conflict situations and overcoming obstacles triggered by the criminal charge phenomenon. They considered the case of Northern Ireland (Great Britain) and Basque Country (Spain).

In the context of backing the Transnistrian settlement, the sides approached the need to maintain and consolidate the platform of interaction between state institutions, including the ones with powers of investigating criminal offenses. The format is necessary to elaborate joint approaches, able to help unblock the negotiation process and solve problems of major public interest, such as: law enforcement, human rights protection, as well as ensuring peace, stability and security in Moldova.

The deputy prime minister for reintegration said the work to this end would be stepped up, would continue with new domestic actions and involvement of international partners, so that the process of five-plus-two negotiations on the Transnistrian conflict settlement should be facilitated.

(Editor A. Raileanu)