Projects

RELEASE project has been inspired from the urge to identify alternatives to pre-trial detention in Eastern Europe and Central Europe. RELEASE focuses on this region due to the fact that the alternatives to pre-trial detention are extremely rarely used in this region and the detention measure is a regularly used instrument. This constitutes an issue that can have negative effects on a number of different aspects: sociological aspect, harmonization of EU law, human rights aspect.

The main priority of the RELEASE project is to contribute to the coherent application of EU laws across the Member States and this way to promote judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The project aims at facilitating the establishment of mutual trust amongst the target groups and improvement of the national justice systems.

RELEASE  focuses on pre-trial detention having as an objective to propose and promote alternatives to its excessive use. More precisely, the project aims on assisting predominantly the judiciary (including judges, investigative judges) but also prosecutors, defense lawyers and other legal practitioners in EU Member States, particularly those located in Eastern and Central Europe, to strengthen the cooperation between competent authorities on the issue of pre-trial detention. The activities that will be carried out within the framework of the project aim to facilitate the construction of a common approach, by identifying the best practices and working methods and establishing mutual trust between the partner countries. The planned activities will consist of identification of best practices and working methods, establishment of mutual trust between partnering Member States, organization of mutual learning activities such as national workshops and international seminars and publishing of learning materials. The project results will be promoted across and beyond the partner countries and target groups via targeted awareness-raising and dissemination activities.

• Desk-research – data collection on the topic such as statistics and case law in partner countries and the region as well as identification of gaps and needs
• Handbook – including good practices and practical alternatives, with separate parts for the different target groups such as lawyers, judges, prosecutors, consisting of good practices identified by the research and the participants.
• Policy Brief – which will aim to increase the awareness amongst policy makers regarding the issues related to pre-trial detention and possible alternatives for resolving them.
• National workshops and international seminars – organization of national workshops and international seminars for judges, investigative judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and other legal practitioners or academia.
• RELEASE final conference – which will further support the establishing of effective cooperation between the target groups and will further disseminate the results of the project.