1st Conference of E&ICLI

ΤΟ ΠΡΩΤΟ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ ΤΟΥ ΙΝΣΤΙΤΟΥΤΟΥ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΠΟΙΝΙΚΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ

Θέμα: «Οικονομικά Εγκλήματα και Διεθνές Ποινικό Δίκαιο»

Το πρώτο Συνέδριο του Ινστιτούτου Ευρωπαϊκού και Διεθνούς Ποινικού Δικαίου πραγματοποιήθηκε με μεγάλη επιτυχία και αθρόα προσέλευση στο Αμφιθέατρο του Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών στις 4 Ιουνίου 2015.  Όπως τόνισε ο Πρόεδρος του Ινστιτούτου Καθηγητής Χρίστος Μυλωνόπουλος σκοπός του Ινστιτούτου δεν είναι μόνον η καλλιέργεια του διεθνούς ποινικού δικαίου αλλά και να καταστεί αυτό πόλος αναφοράς για τους νέους νομικούς με σεμινάρια και  εφαρμογή του e learning σε συνεργασία με ξένα Πανεπιστήμια και Ινστιτούτα. Χαιρετισμό απήθυνε ο Επιτιμος Εισαγγελέας του Αρείου Πάγου κ. Ιωάννης Τέντες. Γενική εισήγηση έκανε ο Καθηγητής κ.  Μυλωνόπουλος με θέμα: «Η αποστολή του διεθνούς ποινικού δικαίου και οι  προκλήσεις της σύγχρονης πραγματικότητας» Στη συνέχεια μίλησαν διακεκριμένοι εκπρόσωποι της ποινικής θεωρίας και συγκεκριμένα:
Ο κ. Bernd Schünemann, Ομότ. Καθηγητής Πανεπιστημίου Μονάχου, με θέμα: «Ελάχιστες προϋποθέσεις υπεράσπισης στο Ευρωπαϊκό Ποινικό Δίκαιο»
Ο κ. Δημήτρης Κιούπης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Νομικής Σχολής Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών με θέμα : «Οικονομικό έγκλημα. Το ευρωπαϊκό δικονομικό πλαίσιο»
Ο κ. Γεώργιος Τριανταφύλλου, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Νομικής Σχολής Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών με θέμα: "Νομιμοποίηση εσόδων από εγκληματικές δραστηριότητες. Ζητήματα διεθνούς ουσιαστικού και δικονομικού ποινικού δικαίου"
Ο κ. Στέφανος Στανέλλος, Δ.Ν. Δικηγόρος με θέμα: "Απαγορεύσεις αξιοποιήσεως αποδεικτικών μέσων και δικαστική συνδρομή στα φορολογικά εγκλήματα"

Poster

Information Note

THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW INSTITUTE’ S

INAUGURAL CONFERENCE

“Economic Crimes and International Criminal Law”

(AS PUBLISHED IN Poinika Chronika NOE 2015)

By Foteini P. Dimopoulou

Translaion: Anastasia Sotiropoulou

            The Inaugural Conference of the newly established European and International Criminal Law Institute successfully took place on June 4^th, 2015 at the amphitheater of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Giannos Kranidiotis”. The Conference, whose turnout was massive, had as its subject “Economic Crimes and International Criminal Law” and was chaired by Professor Christos Mylonopoulos with the following speakers, namely, Emeritus Professor at the University of Munich Bernd Schünemann, Assistant Professors at the Law School of Athens Dimitrios Kioupis and Georgios Triantafyllou and Dr. Stephanos Stanellos, lawyer.

            The Conference was greeted by the Honorary Prosecutor of the Supreme Court and former National Coordinator Against Corruption Dr. Ioannis Tentes, who welcomed the establishment of the Institute, the participation of distinguished judges and young scholars and the choice of such a current topic. The Honorary Prosecutor proceeded in making the logical and legal connection of International Criminal Law with economic crimes related to corruption and tax evasion and expressed his wish that the Institute will contribute in the National Action Plan Against Corruption and Fraud which refers to issues of European and International Criminal Law in various ways.

            In his opening speech, Professor Christos Mylonopoulos highlighted the importance of the Institute’s establishment as a need to align the Greek criminal justice with the rapid development of criminal laws on international level following the Treaty of Lisbon, the possibility of submitting the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union to the judicial review of the European Court of Human Rights and the establishment of the European ne bis in idem. The aforementioned developments are accompanied by thorny issues that alter and threaten – even through adulteration – the physiognomy of criminal law as a field that protects and guarantees civil liberties. Professor Mylonopoulos emphasized that the fight against crime at any price and the pursuit of security within the states, without the support of a generally approved theory that would provide legal safety and would harmonize the international rules with the general principles of law of each state, reflects the principle of anarchy in the field of international criminal law and hampers its rational development. At the end of his speech, he determined the Institute’s dual purpose, on the one hand to cultivate international criminal law and on the other hand to serve as a point of reference and progress for young jurists.

            Subsequently, Emeritus Professor at the University of Munich Bernd Schünemann analyzed the minimum defense requirements under European Criminal Law and referred to the so called “defendant’s procedural rights definitive package” recognized by the E.U. that includes the presumption of innocence, the right to remain silent and the right to be present. Professor Schünemann pointed out that up to now, the European legislation essentially aims at the transfer of the European Court of Human Rights case-law to the law of the European Union without undertaking any innovative solutions that would reinforce the rule of law. In addition, Professor Schünemann criticized the decline in effective defense in international criminal proceedings due to the replacement of double criminality and the principle of the maximum possible benefit with the principle of mutual recognition and the reinforcement of the law enforcement bodies through Eurojust and the European Prosecutor, without the corresponding reinforcement of the defense side, not even by the single E.U. legislative instruments. He also stressed the imperative need for guaranteeing an effective cross-border defense in order to ensure a transnational equilibrium, as the one that was presented in 2006 at the “EU Action Plan for Criminal Justice” through an institutional counterbalance that would consist of the limitation of mutual recognition, the intra-European concentration of jurisdiction solely on an investigative process and the dual institution of the European Defense Agency.

            The Assistant Professor at the University of Athens Dimitrios Kioupis analyzed the European Procedural framework on economic crime. Through the use of typical examples, he raised the issue of international cross-border crime, that occurs within the area of security, freedom and justice by explaining four basic questions: who prosecutes the criminal act, who investigates it, who rules on it and who executes it. The analysis focused on the formation of a procedural framework within which the issue of simultaneous or consecutive prosecution, investigation, trial and execution by multiple authorities of member – states would be solved satisfactorily, with the aim of discovering the substantial truth, achieving justice and protecting the rights of the defendant, given that the broad harmonization of criminal law cannot be placed at the beginning of the political integration process but at its end. The speaker reminded, that the court which first issues a final decision on a case produces a res judicata for the parties involved, while he pointed out the importance of the criteria for the choice of forum, the role of Eurojust and the role of the defendant.

            Assistant Professor Georgios Triantafyllou developed the issue of money laundering with international aspects through the lens of international criminal law. He referred to the regional limits of Greek criminal laws when the laundering takes place abroad but also to the possibility of committing money laundering on national level when the predicate offense has been committed abroad. The speaker reviewed the existing legislation, raised the lack of legislative progress commensurable with the principles of international criminal law and the unjustifiable expansion of Greek criminal jurisdiction as a result of the fragmentary character of provisions and their severance from the general part of the criminal code. He also developed the case of committing the predicate offense abroad and referred to double criminality, pointing out that due to the dependent nature of money laundering, the act cannot by itself exist, if it abided by the laws of the country where it took place, as well as in cases of different legal definitions or procedural specificities among jurisdictions.

Finally, Dr. Stefanos Stanellos, lawyer, discussed the relationship between prohibitions of the use of evidence and judicial cooperation in tax crimes, using as his starting point the Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters signed in Strasbourg on 20.04.1959 and entered into force in 1962. Judicial cooperation raises the issue of the permissibility of evidence that has been illegally acquired, given that the absolute prohibition provided in article 177 paragraph 2 of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure is not accepted as a rule on international level. It is, however, common ground that the state which requests mutual assistance needs to take into consideration potential clauses that the requested state could use and that article 2a of the above mentioned Convention leaves open the possibility of refusal in tax crimes. In the case of illegally obtained evidence, the requesting party’s assistance in obtaining the evidence is crucial; if the evidence was unlawfully obtained with the initiative and responsibility of a private party it could taken into consideration.

The above raised thorny issues demonstrate the need for the Institute’s establishment and the role it is called to play within the much-tested Greek society and the constantly changing international field. In December 2015, another event will take place on the topic of the protection of antiquities within international criminal law and the issue of their repatriation. In April 2016, the Institute will hold a meeting on the role of the European Prosecutor while from 3 to 5 June 2016 it will organize an International Conference on various current topics.

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