A seminar organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova on 25 May 2016 trained 25 judges and prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting a range of cybercrimes, including online child pornography and human trafficking over the Internet.

At the seminar, held at the National Institute of Justice in Chisinau, participants were familiarized with software and data used to investigate cybercrimes, and learned how to apply these to cases of online child pornography and human trafficking. They also studied recent amendments to Moldova’s legislation on regulating online activities, including the creation of additional investigative bodies to deal with online child pornography, and considered the impact of these amendments on their work.

“Cybercrimes, including those committed for the exploitation of children and to facilitate human trafficking, are a real threat for Moldova,” explained Dumitru Purice, a prosecutor in the cybercrime section of the General Prosecutor’s Office and a trainer at the seminar. “The authorities must ensure that the problem is appropriately tackled by specialized investigative sections, in accordance with the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime.”

The seminar is part of an OSCE Mission to Moldova project to support the capacity-building of legal professionals in combating domestic violence, human trafficking and cybercrimes.

The project is implemented by the National Institute of Justice, which has received capacity-building support from the Mission since 2009, including through the training of more than 900 judges and prosecutors, and is aimed at ensuring that domestic violence and human trafficking cases are investigated effectively, OSCE writes.