ROUND TABLE ON DRAFT LAW ON THE WITNESS

PROTECTION PROGRAM

Podgorica, June 28, 2004

As a logical follow up of the Foundation’s  efforts made on preparing the plan for revision of regulations in the field of criminal legislation  and   also as  a result of the recently adopted Law on Criminal Proceeding, the Foundation,  in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Montenegro and  OSCE office in Podgorica,  organized a roundtable on the draft Law on the Witness Protection Program, on June 28, 2004. The seminar was attended by about 40 representatives from judiciary, prosecutor’s office, NGOs and donors, in order to give their comments on the draft law prepared by the working group that was formed within the Ministry of Justice. The working group performed its work with financial support of  OSCE, while the law draft which was sent to OSCE for review was commented by the Mr. Roberto di Legami, the expert and chief of the unit for  organized groups within the division for serious criminal offences EUROPOL, who attended seminar as well.  Council of Europe also gave its comments but not on time to be included  in the publication  prepared for the seminar.

Mr. Željko Šturanović, Minister of Justice, Mr. Drino Galičić, representative of OSCE office in Podgorica and Ms. Sanja Elezović, from the Foundation, welcomed the participants. The seminar continued with presentations given by   expert Roberto di Legami  who  evaluated the draft law  as well structured  but  still needing some slight additional refining and improvements. His  basic recommendations were directed toward more restrictive approach when defining criminal offences to which the  program of protection of witnesses may be applied, as well as the maximum usage of mechanisms available for protection of witnesses during the criminal proceeding itself (giving anonymous statements,  disabling visual contact between witnesses and the accused etc.) This is to be especially considered  in terms of  important amount of funds that are to be provided for realization of these types of programs in accordance with  costs analysis of drafting and enforcing the Law on Program of Protection of Witnesses that was  performed by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Montenegro, with the support of the OSCE expert Mr. Stefan Glušica.

Di Legami further emphasized  that, according to the draft law, the committee in charge of deciding on the application, extension, suspension and termination of the program of protection of witnesses should consist of  the members who have specific experience in this field, who are familiar with current trends in  organized crime, and who are able of taking quick and reliable decisions. Some of the participants outlined that the number of committee members should be reduced to a minimum in order to minimize the risk of  disclosing details related to each segment of the program that are considered strictly confidential. There were some proposals made by the representatives of the Ministry of Interior that   decision on a type of protection  measure should be taken by the  head of the protection unit (who is in charge of program implementation) and not by the committee (according to the draft law, head of the unit is, by his function, a member of the Committee, which in addition to him consist of representatives of the Supreme Court, Supreme State Prosecutor, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Interior).

Di Legami further pointed out the importance of preciseness of the contract that is to be signed with the user of the program in order to avoid possible later dilemmas that might influence quality of cooperation between the bodies and witness being subject to this program. The risk estimate, which is a very important element of the decision on conducting the program of protection in individual cases, must be reliable, detailed and based on the facts. Article 1 of the draft law says that on the request of the Supreme State Prosecutor, the committee is to  apply the program of protection.  The objections made  during the seminar indicated to a need to give possibility to the police and the representative of the Institute for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions to file  a request for application of the program to the Committee.

Finally, Di Legami  emphasized the importance of the financial independence of the Witness Protection Unit in charge of appzing the witness protection program (that considers fully independent and secured revision and inspection) since the confidentiality and quality of the program cannot be guaranteed otherwise.

The representative of the NGO “Women’s Shelter” briefly informed attendees  that this NGO (with the support of ORT-MA program and the Group for Changes as a strategic partner) prepared its draft law and presented it to the  public at the press conference held on June 25. The representative of “Women’s Shelter” spoke highly of cooperation established with the Ministry of Justice considering that Ministry of Justice, among others, forwarded its draft law to this organization, accepting its comments and objections on the same. Still, it was stated with regret that these efforts did not result in regulations that include protection of witnesses in all stages of the criminal proceeding (while in the draft law proposed by the “Woman’s Shelter” the protection of the witnesses before, during and after the proceeding has been included in one unique law).

At the end of the seminar, the Minister of Justice thanked to the expert and other participants for attending the seminar and for their contributions, expressing his hope that this law will be adopted soon, after being subject to the necessary revision and review by the competent bodies.