SARAJEVO, March 4 (FENA) - By introducing alternative dispute resolution in criminal proceedings, the judiciary would be relieved of part of the burden and the capacities of judicial institutions could be used to deal with more complicated criminal offenses, such as organized crime. This is the challenge for all the countries of Southeast Europe, it was highlighted yesterday in Sarajevo at the meeting of the General Committee on Justice, Internal Affairs and Security Cooperation, attended by parliamentarians from the ten member states of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP).
Participants of the meeting discussed alternative criminal proceedings in the criminal justice process in the judiciary institutions, and Chairman of the General Board, Bariša Čolak said that this would enable the resolution of less dangerous criminal offenses by other means then just the usual form of court processing, thus wearing down huge human, material and financial capacities.
He said that it was good to see the positive experiences of others and that we will get to a point where countries will individually improve their legislation and free up space for the judicial bodies of SEECP member states to commit themselves to serious criminal offenses that endanger social values.
"In that sense, the more cases we solve in alternative ways, we will free up space in the sense of implementing different policies of criminal sanctions," said Čolak.
The outcome of the meeting should be adoption of a resolution confirming the importance of cooperation in the field of justice and stressing the importance of the role of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly in harmonizing legislative frameworks in the countries of the region with the acquis communautaire of the EU.
Čolak added that the member states should commit themselves to the resolution by intensifying cooperation with the legislative authorities so that the executive and judicial authorities could jointly and more effectively fight all forms of crime.
The documents adopted by the parliamentarians of ten Southeast European countries will be discussed and confirmed at the plenary session of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly scheduled for 13 and 14 April in Ljubljana.
(FENA) S. R.