Democratization comments on the tools developed and reviews the project’s progress during regular exchanges, the last of which in 2010 took place on the margins of the annual co-ordination meeting for trial monitoring. The meeting was organized in 2010 jointly by ODIHR and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in Budva from 29 November to 1 December. ODIHR also embarked, in co-operation with Sweden’s Folke Bernadotte Academy, on a project to develop guidelines on monitoring administrative justice before courts and is currently in the process of compiling and analyzing existing fair-trial standards applicable in this field. In March, ODIHR published its final report on the trial monitoring project in Armenia carried out in 2008 and 2009. The report identified a number of shortcomings in the administration of justice, including the ill-treatment of individuals in custody and undue restrictions of the right to defence. The recommendations made to the Armenian authorities were discussed by ODIHR experts with the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Court of Cassation and other stakeholders at three subsequent workshops held in Yerevan in April, July and November, respectively. A presidential decree was issued to set up a working group to draft a new Code of Criminal Procedure in light of the ODIHR recommendations. Criminal Justice Reform ODIHR continued to facilitate the exchange of expertise and provide assistance to participating States in the field of criminal-justice reform. The 2010 Expert Forum on Criminal Justice for Central Asia, held in Dushanbe on 17 and 18 June, was devoted to issues faced by the criminal-justice systems in the region. These issues included the authorization of pre-trial detention, judicial oversight of criminal investigation, evidentiary rules and adversarial procedure, jury trials, reform of legislation on administrative offences, abbreviated and simplified criminal procedures, and alternatives to criminal prosecution. Prominent international experts shared their experience with more than 120 policymakers, researchers and criminal-justice professionals from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. At the Expert Forum, ODIHR also presented preliminary results from two research projects it carried out in Kazakhstan in 2010 – on judicial authorization of pre-trial detention and on jury trials. The reports contain analysis of current legislation and practice, as well as recommendations for improvements. These will be published in early 2011. In Moldova, ODIHR worked with the Prosecutor General’s office to strengthen the capacity of the recently created Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP). An ODIHR expert spent four weeks with the Council in October to assess its institutional strengths and weaknesses and share experiences from other countries. The results were presented at a roundtable with the Prosecutor General and other high-ranking justice officials in Chisinau on 6 December. Future discussions are expected to focus on addressing the problems that the close institutional relationship between the SCP and the office of the Prosecutor General creates for public perceptions of the SCP as a guarantor of the independence, objectivity and impartiality of prosecutors, as required by the organic law creating it. Electoral Disputes ODIHR continued to develop capacity to provide assistance to participating States in resolving election-related disputes. Two expert meetings held in Warsaw, in February and December, respectively, served to identify the main challenges in the OSCE region and prioritize potential areas of engagement for ODIHR. Their conclusions will guide ODIHR efforts in this area in 2011, including the development of policy guidelines on electoral-dispute resolution at the administrative and judicial levels. Supporting the Adjudication of War Crimes Since May 2010, ODIHR has been implementing the War Crimes Justice Project (WCJP), aimed at strengthening the capacity of national legal systems of countries in South-Eastern Europe in dealing with war crimes cases. The 18-month project is supported by 4 million euros in funding from the European Union and implemented in partnership with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), as well as the OSCE field operations in the region. The project prioritizes the transfer of knowledge and materials from the ICTY to legal professionals in national jurisdictions and, in so doing, addresses identified gaps in the professional capacities of practitioners and their resources in ODIHR Annual Report 2010 23