I. Trial Monitoring Programme in Moldova, OSCE Mission to Moldova 140 Model OSCE programme organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova and funded through ODIHR and the Mission as an extra-budgetary project. Inception Programme document completed July 2005; launched in March 2006. Objectives • To build the capacity of local civil society to monitor and report on trials; • To monitor and disseminate information on the application of international fair-trial standards in criminal trials; and • To monitor the application of substantive legal protections in the areas of trafficking, domestic violence, and corruption. Reports “6-Month Analytic Report: Preliminary Findings on the Experience of Going to Court in Moldova” (November 2006). Partners ABA-CEELI Moldova, Institute for Penal Reform Monitoring Staff Twenty Moldovan law-school graduates, young lawyers, and junior law professors serve as volunteer monitors (with a nominal stipend); the national co-ordinator (who is a local lawyer) supervises the monitors, and the senior programme assistant provides additional support. Achievements • Produced a trial-monitoring manual, including a detailed legal reference manual containing international and national standards; • Developed detailed MoUs with national authorities, including an agreement with the Prosecutor-General’s Office to assist in the identification of cases relevant to monitoring; • Developed a computer database to manage monitoring data; • Trained trial monitors and select civil society representatives on trial-monitoring skills and methods, including international and national fair-trial standards (March and October 2006); • Published a report in April 2007 that included specific findings on the courts (court premises and facilities, public access to trials, delays and postponements, security and public order), and on the professionalism and performance of the main participants at trial (judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, clerks, and victims and witnesses). Trial-Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners