The China-EU School of Law (CESL) organised another training session at the National Prosecutor’s College (NPC) in Beijing. On May 29, 2019, 152 senior Chinese prosecutors from across the country came to take part in the course. The attendees were either the Chief Prosecutor or Deputy Chief Prosecutors of their local Procuratorates.

The topic was on criminal procedure and specifically the diversion of criminal cases. CESL organised for two distinguished prosecutors from Europe to explain how the process of diversion works in their respective national systems and engage in constructive dialogue with their Chinese counterparts. Mr. Jean-Christophe Muller, from France, is the Advocate General at the Paris Court of Appeal. Dr. Ralf Peter Anders, from Germany, is the Senior Attorney General of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the District Court of Lübeck and a Lecturer at the University of Hamburg. Dr. Anders was also recently selected to become the next Chief Prosecutor for Hamburg. TheVice President of the NPC,Professor Zhou Hongbo,andCESL’sEuropeanExecutive Co-Dean, Ronald Montague Silley, were also present and gave closing remarks before certificates were presented to the participants.

Ralf Peter Anders and Jean-Christophe Muller

During the full-day seminar, Chinese prosecutors asked many questions about both the process of diversion in French and German criminal cases, but also about a range of other issues related to the work and operations of the European prosecutor’s offices. Prosecutors Anders and Muller were able to draw from their extensive experience and give many practical examples from cases they had dealt with. In the end, the deep exchange of knowledge between jurisdictions made the event a great success. CESL has now provided professional training to over 10,000 Chinese judges, prosecutors and lawyers and civil servants, and to over 2,400 Chinese prosecutors though the NPC in particular.

(From left: Ralf Peter Anders, Zhou Hongbo, Monty Silley, Jean-Christophe Muller)