Vilnius, the baroque city of the Baltic, proudly hosted the 2016 ECBA Spring Conference.

The highly interesting topics of the Conference included the comparison and analysis of the question between inquisitorial and adversary criminal proceedings, always with the aim of improving European Justice.

On Friday 22 April, the ECBA Board Members paid a visit to Europe's infamous prisons of Lukiskes in the heart of Vilnius. Founded in the Tsar Era, the prison became more notorious during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, when it was used by the Gestapo. After more than a century of continuous service the prison is in need of investment for thorough improvements.

At the Friday evening cocktail reception, Mr Holger Matt, ECBA Chairman, Mr Ignas Vegele, Chairman of the Council of the Lithuanian Bar Association and Mr Robert Juodka , representative from VARUL Law Firm, addressed warm welcoming words to the numerous delegates from across Europe. VARUL notably provided valuable help and support in the organisation of the Conference.

The next day, the Conference was opened by the energetic Holger Matt who set the tone for ECBA’s goals and missions in the coming years.

The question of the inquisitorial system versus the adversarial system – which is the better of the two – was meticulously presented by Sir Anthony Hooper, retired Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and member of Matrix Chambers.

Mr Mindaugas Girdauskas, Adviser to the Chairman of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Lithuania and Researcher at the Criminal Justice Research Department, focused with remarkable detail on the activity of the Trial Court and Adversary Criminal Proceedings.

The rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Criminal Court were under the spotlight of the emblematic figure of Sir Howard Morrison, QC,  Judge at the International Criminal Court. The heated debate on this topic was led by the tireless Miroslav Krutina, along with the panellists Sir Anthony Hooper, Mindaugas Girdauskas, Sir Howard Morrison, Dr Helena Devetak from Slovenia, Vladimir Hrle from Serbia and Neil Swift from the United Kingdom.

After the ECBA address the Working Groups, which undoubtedly set the tone of the action, the following were presented:

Project on implementation of measures A, B, C of the Road Map 2009: Peter McNamee, CCBE

Remedies in national legal systems when implementing the Directive 2013/48/EU (right of access to a lawyer): Anneli Soo, Estonia, University of Maastricht

Pre-trial detention in the EU the divergence between law and practice and the way forward: Dr Roland Kier, Austria

ECBA sub-association “white collar” (EFCL) joint conference EFCL/FLA, 17 June 2016 in London: Dr Oliver Kipper, Germany

The afternoon panel, which comprised of Marko Kairjak, Estonia, Ondrej Laciak, Slovakia, Dr Rebecca Niblock, United Kingdom, and Hans Van de Wal, Belgium, introduced to the audience the highly interesting topic of “Ne bis in dem and conflicts of jurisdiction in the EU”.  Tommi Koivistoinen gave his speech on Ne bis in idem in Finland.

In the last part of the session, interesting reports on national developments were presented by Prof Dr Heiko Ahlbrecht, Germany; Prof Dr Jaime Campaner Muñoz, Spain; Dominique Inchauspé, France; Arturas Gutauskas, Lithuania; Piotr Karlik, Poland; and Saulvedis Varpins, Latvia.

The ECBA once again reprised the leading role in the field of defence rights in the continuously changing European environment.

by Alexis Anagnostakis