National Witness Protection Office organized, on the 6th of June 2013 – Poiana Brasov, the National Seminar in the witness protection domain.

The activity was organized with the aim to present to the representatives of the national authorities the role of witness protection within the national legal system.

The increasing number of the activities of the organized crime groups (trafficking in drugs and human beings, money laundering, counterfeiting of currency and other monetary instruments, corruption…), was the reason for which representatives of national authorities have established a lot of measures to protect citizens, including witness protection.

The deputy of the General Prosecutor of Romania spoke about the role of the National Witness Protection Office and about how important it is for the witnesses to know that they have the possibility to be protected by a specialized unit if they decide to testify.

The director of National Witness Protection Office, Mr. Laurentiu Sobu, gave an overview about the structure, about the protection and assistance measures that may be established and also about how the decisions regarding admission in the program are made according to the provisions of Law no. 682/2002 on witness protection.

There were also a number of presentations about upcoming activities and necessary documents for inclusion in the Witness Protection Program, specific activities undertaken in connection with the implementation of the Witness Protection Program and Specific activities in connection with psychological and social assistance .

For a better understanding on how it works, prosecutor Vasile Chifan gave a presentation about a case study. He pointed out the role of the National Witness Protection Office in this matter.

The session was marked by very good and open discussions highlighted by the topics, a lot of questions about the provisions of the law and about the procedures.