Moldovan witnesses in cross-border cases may testify at home

Witnesses in cross-border cases will now be able to testify safely within their own countries and will no longer have to travel outside their borders because of new equipment and technology, donated to the Prosecutor General’s Office by the U.S. Department of Justice. A press release of the Embassy of the USA in Moldova informs that the equipment is expected to help authorities obtain successful results in cross-border cases, given the security and ease it will provide to witnesses. Since 2004, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has provided legal support and assistance to the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), which maintains a Regional Center for Combating Trans-border Crime. The Department of Justice has also provided considerable support to the South Eastern European Prosecutor's Advisory Group Witness intimidation and abuse are among the most severe obstacles to obtaining testimony and convictions in many types of cases, including trafficking in persons. Moldova pioneered the use of video-conferencing testimony in the SECI region two years ago, when through videoconferencing equipment loaned by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, a Moldovan trafficking victim testified in a Macedonian case. The end result of the case was the conviction of her traffickers.