The first group of judges, prosecutors and investigators have successfully completed a distance-learning course on procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights.
This course has been translated and adapted to the Armenian legal context and launched in co-operation with the Armenian Academy of Justice. A certificate was delivered to all the participants successfully passing this course following an eight-week study programme.
The European Convention on Human Rights lays out a number of fair trial guarantees of suspects in criminal proceedings, among which are the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent tribunal, the right to liberty and security, the right to legal aid, as well as the rights that pertain to victims. On the other hand, to exercise rights of victims of crime and of human rights violations, proper victim support is needed, backed by adequate infrastructure and funding. In this context, Armenian legal professionals improved their knowledge and skills on the procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and on the individual needs of the victims and in particular vulnerable victims, such as children, victims of sexual violence or victims of terrorism.
The HELP course Procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights combines both the fundamental procedural rights of accused and suspected persons in criminal proceedings and the rights of victims of crime (emphasis on access to justice), covering both the Council of Europe and the European Union legal framework.
Following this pilot group implementation, the HELP course in its Armenian version will become available for free on the HELP online platform.
The translation, adaptation and launch of this course has been organised under the project “Supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonising the application of the European standards”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance (2019-2021).
