This is the statement issued by an Afghan judge at the end of the participation in the third course developed by EUPOL for education in forensic medicine carried out in Herat.
The idea of the project was born after the first series of introductory lessons in the field of forensic medicine were completed in the spring of 2014, which had found particular success among the scholars of the Afghan law.
The dual purpose of the project was to develop two areas of intervention. The first involved the procurement of technological equipment for several thousand euros for both the forensic laboratory and the forensic department of the hospital in Herat. The second area of intervention had the primary purpose of generating scientific and technical knowledge in ordinary and military prosecutors, judges and lawyers as well as senior Afghan police officers, so that the sources of evidence were also scientifically judged in the criminal trial.
This second part of the project of familiarization with forensic science was marked by three phases with courses of five days each. The first was organized by 8 at 12 November 2014. Six local doctors, specialized in forensic medicine, an officer of the Afghan Police, assigned to criminal techniques, a lawyer from the local forensic association, instructed, under the careful guidance of the staff of the Carabinieri of EUPOL, a total of 24 participants, including two women. The diverse audience of the defendants has seen side by side police officers, prosecutors (ordinary and military) judges and lawyers who have learned for the first time ever in their lives, the state of the art of techniques of analysis and scientific evaluation of the test. From now on these protagonists of the criminal trial will be able to evaluate not only the subjective sources of evidence but also the objective ones provided by science. In fact so far, evidence in the Afghan criminal trial was based solely on the enforcement of texts.
During the course the participants were able to visit the premises of the forensic laboratory, run by an American government company (CSTC-A) which also trains Afghan police instructors in various forensic disciplines (ballistics, typing, firearms, etc). The trainees thus witnessed a practical demonstration on the procedures of scientific analysis by specialized Afghan technicians, learning the limits and the potential of scientific analysis.
Ms. Sonbol Sediqi, a lawyer from the local forensic association and participant in the course, said "the program was really useful because for the first time I was instructed with forensic knowledge". The lawyer also stressed the vital need to continue to implement such courses. An increasing number of lawyers, judges, prosecutors and police officers must be involved in order to understand the importance of forensic science in solving crime cases.
The first course was so successful in the forum of Herat that at the second event held by 29 November 3 2014 December were convened well other 19 officials including the district attorney general, numerous judges and prosecutors of varying degrees, as well as lawyers of the forum Afghan.
These included Judge Ahmad Ershad, of the Herat appeals court, who said: "I really enjoyed this course because I learned that forensic doctors have a great job to do in helping us judges to decide on the crimes committed. I believe that every judge must have at least rudimentary knowledge of forensic science so as to issue judgments that are fair and free from bias. This type of lesson must continue: we need more judges and prosecutors with technical knowledge of this type. "
The last part of the project aimed at disseminating technical and forensic knowledge among legal operators took place between 15 and 20 December 2014, involving other 23 participants. This last course has found a massive participation of women (well 6 women), made rather unusual and difficult to achieve in the Afghan reality.
Among these, once again, numerous ordinary prosecutors, military, judges and various lawyers. Attorney Abdul Hakim Arampour said “I learned a lot in the lessons. They have helped me to acquire new information that I otherwise would not have been able to learn on my own, such as ballistics science, various poisonous substances as well as the different types of wounds that can be inflicted on the human body and how to distinguish them. I am extremely grateful to EUPOL for funding and facilitating the implementation of the program. "
As can be deduced from the comments reported, the three organized courses have received great appreciation for the pioneering initiative developed by the EUPOL Carabinieri. The project, for the first time ever, has allowed the dissemination of technical and scientific knowledge of the evaluation of the test with European standards, not only for the police forces but also among the Afghan judicial bodies.
The judicial community and the forensic district have been unanimous in requesting the new EUPOL Carabinieri technical seminars in order to instruct the remaining part of the investigating and judging personnel.
The revolutionary intuition in organizing courses of this type has also made it possible to bring together, for the first time and at a single table, all the actors involved in the investigation and evaluation of the evidence, providing them with the state of the art of science. criminalistic, but also by strengthening the close collaboration between the various bodies. In fact, the entire project also set out to develop one of EUPOL's mandates, that is to increase the rule of law by consolidating the synergies of the Afghan community in order to obtain a judicial system that is as autonomous, independent, functional and sustainable as possible.
Source: EUPOL
(in the opening photo: prosecutors, judges, lawyers and coroners from Herat together with Lt. Col. Massimo Pani, EUPOL head of field office, al mar. asups Giuseppe Roccotelli Deputy head field office and mar. ca. Salvatore Butera police advisor to the EUPOL team at the close of the important project)
