Colombia was the venue of the 29th General Assembly of the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP). A meeting where the change of presidency from the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office to that of Colombia for the 2022-2024 period became official.

EL PAcCTO programme was at the Assembly with other AIAMP partners such as COMJIB, IberRed, the Ibero-American Judicial Summit (CIJ), Eurojust or the Eurosocial+ programme, among others.

The different AIAMP networks and working groups approved some products made with EL PAcCTO. These included the protocol between the State Attorney General’s Offices for the exchange of environmental evidence, the code of ethics, a glossary on the recovery and management of assets and a guide to asset forfeiture from the Forfeiture and Confiscation Group. These are results-oriented projects that are currently setting standards in the region. EL PAcCTO’s support for the creation of the code of ethics is significant. In fact, some public prosecutors in the region have already shown interest in adopting it.

According to Antonio Roma, prosecutor and coordinator of EL PAcCTO’s cooperation between justice systems component, the close link between the AIAMP and EL PAcCTO became evident during the sessions. “This link manifests, for example, in the support for the shared political cycle of justice between Latin America and the EU that the programme has promoted.”  

EL PAcCTO will continue to work with the AIAMP and its networks and working groups to strengthen international cooperation and uphold the rule of law on both sides of the Atlantic.

Group to protect Latin American prosecutors

The representatives of the public prosecutors in attendance also decided to create a working group on security measures for Latin American prosecutors after the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in May. “The determination of Ibero-American prosecutors to uphold the rule of law in society, to victim protection and vulnerable people, demands a strong condemnation of all attacks on life, integrity and freedom. We face threats and all kinds of difficulties everyday, especially prosecutors who fight against organised crime”, said Francisco Jiménez-Villarejo Fernández, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Cooperation Unit of Spain and representative of the Permanent General Secretariat of the AIAMP.