The opening of the 52nd IAP Executive Committee Meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors held at the Presidential Library

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov and President of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) Chol-Kyu Hwan inaugurated the 52nd Executive Committee Meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors, which is being held in St. Petersburg at the Presidential Library.

The leaders of the IAP, vice-presidents of the association from the United Arab Emirates, the USA and Croatia, members of the Executive Committee from Argentina, Greece, Uganda and other countries attended the event in person.

Addressing the meeting participants, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation noted that the creation of the International Association of Prosecutors became possible due to the non-political nature of its activities, as well as adherence to basic legal values.

The IAP is the first and only international non-governmental organization of prosecutors, which gathered under its auspices nearly 350 thousand participants from 172 countries of the world.

“Despite national differences in legislation, the prosecutors in their work adhere to the universal postulate formulated in Ancient Rome: “Law is the art of goodness and justice”, - said Igor Krasnov.

The head of the supervisory agency stressed that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia contributes to the development of the association's activities. “In cooperation with its leadership, by the decision of the Executive Committee, we have successfully implemented a pilot project to create a regional representative office of the IAP in Russia. It settled in St. Petersburg and has already managed to act as a platform for several international events".

In 2018, it hosted a two-day workshop on combating cybercrime for representatives of the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Last summer, the office was involved in holding a large-scale international conference on the role of the prosecutor's office in protecting individual rights and public interest in the light of the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights.

At the opening ceremony of the IAP Executive Committee Meeting, an Agreement on Cooperation was signed between the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the International Association of Prosecutors to ensure the activities of the regional office of the International Association of Prosecutors in St. Petersburg. This document establishes the permanent status of the first regional representative office of the IAP, the conditions and procedure for its activities in Russia. It is assumed that the representative office, the activities of which will be provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, will unite at the IAP platform the states which prosecutors use Russian as the language of communication, including the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Central Asia.

The Prosecutor General of Russia expressed his conviction that more than one event will be held at the regional office of the IAP, given that in the modern world there are many challenges and criminal threats that do not have state borders and require prosecutors to develop common approaches to effectively overcome them. Among them are terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking flows, cross-border money laundering, cybercrime, including the criminal use of cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets, ransomware viruses. There is also an acute problem of domestic violence and the involvement of minors in activities that threaten their life and health.

IAP President Chol-Kyu Hwan thanked Igor Krasnov for constant cooperation, as well as for organizing a meeting at such a high level in the cultural capital of Russia.

Chol-Kyu Hwan noted the significance of what is happening, since for the first time in its 26-year history, a regional office of the International Association of Prosecutors is opening in St. Petersburg.

“I am confident that the regional office will play a vital role in helping the IAP Secretariat in the future, within its jurisdiction, build closer cooperation in the field of international criminal justice and more active interaction with prosecutors around the world. In addition, we expect that it will serve as an exemplary model for other regional offices that will open one after another in the coming years”, - said the President of the IAP.

Based on materials from the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation