The Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI), together with the National Institute for Justice, organised the 17th edition of the Summer School for Junior Anti-corruption Practitioners from Southeast Europe. The event, co-financed through the CEI Cooperation Fund - endorsed by the Bulgarian CEI Presidency - took place on 4-8 July in Sofia
Practitioners, junior judges and prosecutors, as well as legal advisors from the courts and prosecution offices in nine CEI Member States had the opportunity to gain practical on-the-field experience and obtain advanced knowledge from judges, prosecutors, lawyers and representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Judicial Integrity Network and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Ms. Desislava Gotskova, Head of RAI Secretariat, in her opening speech, underlined the importance of this gathering, emphasizing that “It is one of the oldest and shiniest examples of what RAI does”. Deputy Director of the National Institute of Justice of Bulgaria, Ms. Silviya Dimitrova, intervened to highlight the fact that many participants in the previous editions of this event, wereobtaining internationally recognised success in this sector. Mr. Stanislav Todorov, CEI Bulgarian National Coordinator, welcomed the efforts that RAI was demonstrating, fostering anti-corruption capacities across the region.
The participants specifically received expert-level information on judicial integrity, i.e. key processes to identify the correct methods and mechanisms to prevent corruption and promote transparent and reasoned decision-making.
