Office of the Prosecutor Trains Police Prosecutors in Kingtom Sierra Leone
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) concluded a two-day training of fifty police prosecutors at Kingtom Police Barracks on Saturday, held as part of the OTP’s ongoing effort to build capacity in Sierra Leone’s judicial sector.
The training was led by Special Court trial lawyer Mohamed Bangura, who recently returned home to Freetown after participating in the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague.
The OTP had previously conducted trainings of police prosecutors in the Northern, Eastern and Southern Provinces and in the Western Area of Sierra Leone as part of a legacy programme which first started in 2009.
Mr. Bangura noted that criminal prosecutions in the Magistrates Courts are normally conducted by police officers, not lawyers, and that a failure to follow the proper procedures might result in cases being dismissed from court.
“In our trainings we generally target police officers who are new to police prosecutions, since the longer-serving police prosecutors often have learnt the proper procedure through experience over the years,” he said.
Topics covered in the training included the conducting of summary trials, preliminary investigations and tips in conducting proper investigations, case management and witness management. The training also looked at the application of the Larceny Act, 1916; the Domestic Violence Act, 2007; the Offences Against Persons Act, 1861; and the Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
Outreach and Public Affairs Office, Special Court for Sierra Leone
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