Within the framework of Joint European Union and Council of Europe iPROCEEDS-2 and Strengthening the Criminal Justice System and the Capacity of Justice Professionals on Prevention of the European Convention on Human Rights Violations in Turkey projects, two one-day online workshops on handling of evidence and electronic evidence during the investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes have been organised on 30 June 2021 and 07 July 2021, for judges and prosecutors in Turkey.
The workshops, gathered different groups of participants including but not limited to representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Turkish judges and prosecutors involved in cybercrime cases, representatives of the Anti-Cybercrime Department, law enforcement officers, the Information Technology and Communication Authority, Council of Europe experts as well as representatives of Turkish Penal Law Association and Union of Turkish Bar Association (UTBA). Inclusion of lawyers, judges and prosecutors from all corners of Turkey provided a wide spectrum of perspectives.
The online workshops aimed at introducing the topics of both physical and electronic evidence in cybercrime cases and increasing the capacities of magistrates to deal with such evidence. Moreover, all the steps in the process of handling evidence and electronic evidence starting from the collection and ending with the prosecution and adjudication phase were covered.
During the respective workshops, best practice and experience from international experts and Turkish professional counterparts were shared in order to contribute to a standardisation of the process in handling evidence on cybercrime and admissibility of evidence as foreseen in international instruments.
These online workshops contributed to the achievement of result 6 of the iPROCEEDS-2 project (Judicial training on cybercrime and electronic evidence and related financial investigations and anti-money laundering measures with a focus on data protection and rule of law safeguards) and result 2 of the Criminal Justice project (To enhance knowledge and skills of the Turkish legal professionals to apply European human rights in the field of criminal justice).
iPROCEEDS-2 project webpage
Strengthening the Criminal Justice System and the Capacity of Justice Professionals on Prevention of the European Convention on Human Rights Violations in Turkey webpage