The Prosecutor General’s Office in cooperation with the Council of Europe held an international conference on issues relating to appeal proceedings

An international conference on “Appeal in the criminal justice system: reality, trends and perspectives” took place in Minsk on 19 December 2017. The conference was organized by the Prosecutor General’s Office with the support of the Council of Europe.

The international forum was devoted to the issues connected to appeal proceedings, participation of the prosecutor at this stage of criminal proceedings, limits of the rights of the second instance court, and the practice of review of judicial decisions in criminal matters in the Council of Europe member states.
 
The following persons participated in the event: Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Konyuk, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos, Chairman of the Constitutional Court the Republic of Belarus Petr Miklashevich, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus Valentin Sukalo, First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Maksim Ryzhenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Azemsha, experts of the Council of Europe, representatives of prosecutor’s offices and judicial bodies of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.  

Opening remarks were made by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Konyuk. The head of the supervisory authority noted: “A specific model of appeal proceedings was formed in our state as well. The Republic of Belarus followed the path of a step-by-step transition to appeal by means of expansion of it elements in cassation proceedings in 2012 and reorganization of the cassation stage of proceedings into the appeal stage in 2016”. 

The floor during the conference was taken by heads of relevant departments of Prosecutor General’s Offices of Belarus and Russia, representative of the European Court of Human Rights, judges from Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Council of Europe experts. 

Exchange of experience with the Council of Europe member states on application of appeal is aimed at study of international practice, defining further prospects of development of appeal proceedings in the national legislation.