Sinaia/Romania, September 26th 2017
In the framework of the Romanian Chairmanship of SEEPAG, the 28th SEEPAG Conference having as a topic “Collecting evidences in terrorism offence investigations” was held on 26 September 2017, in Sinaia/Romania, with the participation of prosecutors from SEEPAG countries, Kingdom of Belgium, Italian Republic, USA and several organizations, such as Eurojust, European Judicial Network and Regional Cooperation Council.
The Conference was organized jointly by the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC) and the Romanian Public Ministry, Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIOCT), being chaired by the Romanian SEEPAG Member, Ms. Narcisa Kelemen, Prosecutor within the Office for International Cooperation of DIOCT.
The Prosecutor General of Romania, Mr. Augustin Lazar, the Head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, Mr. Daniel Constantin Horodniceanu and Ms. Snejana Maleeva, Acting Director General also attended the event.
The representatives of the prosecution offices from the participating countries addressed legal and practical matters regarding investigating terrorism related offences, an issue of worldwide concern.
The Prosecutor General mentioned the importance of the real time exchange of information, sharing good practices, establishing direct contacts among competent authorities, creating network of specialized prosecutors and taking advantage of the information available on Internet, in particular via social platforms, in order to prevent and combat terrorism.
Ms. Maleeva, Acting Director General of SELEC and Director for Legal and Internal Affairs, informed during her intervention about the successful joint investigations in the field of countering terrorism, conducted during 2016-2017 under SELEC’s coordination and support, underlining the benefits of the effective law enforcement and prosecutorial cooperation in the framework of SELEC and SEEPAG.
During the conference, the participants presented their national legislation and mechanisms in place, as well as their experiences, good practices and challenges in gathering evidences in terrorism offences.
It was concluded that, having in view the importance of the fight against terrorism, the competent authorities have to seek for more effective ways to address this emerging threat and tackle it in a proactive manner. The appropriate legal framework, swift cooperation and timely and comprehensive exchange of information should remain a priority for SEEPAG Member States. According to the alphabetical rotation procedure, the SEEPAG Chairmanship for 2018 was transferred to Republic of Serbia.