The Medical Forensic Training Project in Herat Herat, December 2014. “I was totally unaware of the role of forensics in crime detection. Now I learned a lot about the importance of this field in our job because with the evidence that they produce and send to us we can make fair and good judgment during the investigation of cases”, a judge said after participating at the Medical forensic training project in Herat. The comprehensive project was conducted after the successful completion of the first training package delivered in spring 2014. The project had to main areas of action. Firstly, equipment was provided for both forensic lab and for medical forensic department within the Department of Public Health in Herat province. Secondly, training courses for investigators, prosecutors, judges and lawyers were conducted in three modules, all under Afghan ownership. First Training Module The first five-day forensic training course was conducted on 8 -12 November. Six medical doctors specialised in medical forensic, one criminal techniques CID officer and an AIBA defence lawyer trained 24 participants (two of them women), CID officers, prosecutors, military prosecutors, judges and defence lawyers hosted by AIBA. The programme was completely led and organised by the Afghans. As a part of the forensic training programme, the participants visited ISAF-CTSC-A-managed forensic lab and received training on forensic procedures (fingerprint analysis, ballistics, photography analysis and chemical substances analysis) by Afghan staff who were (mentored and trained by CSTC-A mentors). Ms. Sonbol Sediqi, a Defence Lawyer at AIBA, and a participant of the training said that the programme was very useful because it strengthened the role of Forensic Field in crime detection. “More and more similar programmes must be conducted to get as much lawyers, judges, prosecutors and CID officer as possible in order to let them understand the importance of the forensics while dealing with criminal cases”, she added. The participants also visited the Herat Medical Forensic Department within the Department of Public Health. Amongst the presentations they had the opportunity to visit the department’s morgue where they could examine three bodies and were given a brief lecture on legal medicine and autopsy practices. Second Training Module From 29 November to 03 December, the second investigation and prosecution training module as part of the Medical Forensic Project was delivered to 19 participants from Herat Attorney General’s Department, Herat Court and AIBA in accordance with the programme’s agenda. Mr. Ahmad Ershad, a judge from Herat appeal court said: “I really liked this programme because I learned that forensic doctors have a great job to do to help us decide on criminal cases. I believe that a judge must have a rudimentary knowledge of forensic to be able to make fair and free judgments and such training courses must continue. We need more judges and prosecutors to attend similar training courses.” Participants also visited the Police Forensic Laboratory in Herat where lectures and presentations were given to them on different fields of forensic such as dactyloscopy, ballistics and forensic data extraction. Third Training Module Between 15 to 20 December, the third investigation and prosecution (Medical Forensic Module) training programme was conducted for 23 participants from Herat Court, prosecution office, military prosecution office and AIBA (among them there were six women). Mr. Abdul Hakim Arampour – Defence Lawyer from AIBA said about the training: “I learned a lot during the training programme. It helped me learn new things that I would have never been able to learn especially about ballistic, poisoning and types of wounds.” He was very grateful to EUPOL for funding the programme. The participants of the three modules of the training programme expressed full satisfaction and acknowledged that they had gained a great deal of experience and knowledge about forensics during the training programme. They also requested EUPOL to organise similar programmes at district level in Herat province. According the participants, such training programmes proved to bring judges, prosecutors, and CID police on one table to work on more practical methods when dealing with criminal cases. The whole project was initiated by EUPOL in April 2014. Since then, Mircea Milos, EUPOL former Herat Field Office Justice Advisor paved the way for developing Afghan capabilities to process evidence in accordance with accepted scientific standards. The vision was to expand the recognition of forensics as a method of criminal investigation and provide fair judgment by Judicial Authority, in accordance with the Afghan legal system. The whole programme involving judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and CID officers helped them to consolidate their efforts and share their experiences with each other and find solutions for the challenges the legal and judiciary organs of Herat had been facing.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 09:57:44 +0000
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