INNOCENT - Guidelines and Capacity Building modules for INNOCENT capacity-building activities (D3.1)

The present report provides information to the INNOCENT project partners in terms of how to organise the national capacity building events, as well as what the content of those events should be. It starts off providing the idea behind the capacity building events, as well as their planned scope. It sets out specific goals and learning objectives, namely, to enhance the capacity of key professionals to:

- Properly approach and assess e-evidence;
- Better understand procedural rights of persons suspected or accused of crime, in particular on the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in context of applying electronic evidence;
- Detect issues relating to electronic evidence such as the various types that they may encounter, how it is recovered and handled during investigations and produced for criminal trials;
- Basis for challenging the admissibility of e-evidence in court;
- Improve knowledge and awareness of interinstitutional and international cooperation in the context of e-evidence.

The guidelines outline who are the target participants, namely judges, prosecutors and defence attorneys, as well as the profile of the speakers and trainers. They further shed light into the appropriate teaching methods proposing useful approaches. The guidelines note additionally in terms how to overcome possible challenges and what is the ideal timeframe for the carryout of the capacity building events. They provide INNOCENT partners with hints how to select the location, as well as useful tools for the events’ evaluation.

The guidelines come with practical information organised in the form as appendices. Appendix 1-4 provide support from logistical perspective, while Appendix 5 contains information directed towards speakers and trainers in terms of what topic to address during the national capacity building events, how to present to the participants and what are the main takeaways, along with recommendations for further reading.