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FLIGHT RISK Event | Assessing the Risk of Flight as a ground for Pre-trial Detention

26 Jun 2024
16:30 - 19:30
Press Club
Rue Froissart 95, Brussels, 1040 , Brussels, Belgium

We invite you to our FLIGHT RISK event in Brussels on June 26

Join us at the event “Assessing the Risk of Flight in Pre-trial Detention Decision-Making” on the 26th of June in person in Brussels and online!

This event marks the official launch of our two-year research project, supported by the European Commission, addressing the risk of absconding as grounds for pre-trial detention. FLIGHT RISK examines the national experience of five European Union (EU), Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Poland) to conduct comparative research and provide a regional overview of the legal position surrounding Flight Risk in the context of Pre-trial detention.

We’ve collaborated with the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights, and the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology to realize this project.

If you would like to join,  please register here.

The event will be also livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person.

Agenda

16:30- 16:50 Opening Panel

Speakers: 

  • Chryssa Mela, Senior Legal Officer, Fair Trials
  • Neil Jeffery, Interim CEO, Fair Trials
  • Jesca Beneder, European Commission’s Team Leader for Detention and European Arrest Warrant, Criminal Procedural Law Unit, DG Justice and Consumers (DG JUST)

16:50 – 17:00 | Commemoration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture ‘24

Speaker: Nancy Hollander, American Criminal Defense Lawyer & Fair Trials Trustee (Online)

17:00 – 18:00 | Panel 1: National & Regional Perspectives on Flight Risk in Comparison

17:00 – 17:45 | Roundtable National Comparative Discussion

Speakers: 

  • Eric Maes, National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology
  • Philip Daeninck, National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (Belgium)
  • Edith Riegler, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (Austria)
  • Marcin Wolny, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
  • Boyana Ivanova, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (Bulgaria)
  • Niamh McCormack, Irish Council for Civil Liberties (Ireland)
  • Moderator: Chryssa Mela, Senior Legal Officer, Fair Trials

17:45- 18:00 | Presentation of Fair Trials Regional Research Comparative Results

Speaker: Jean Tomkin, Senior Legal Advisor, Fair Trials

 

18:00 – 18:15 – Break

 

18:15 – 18:30 | Presentation: Legal Culture and Traditions Coining Pre-trial Detention and Flight Risk

Speaker: Dr. Walter Hammerschick, Department of Applied Sociology of Law and Criminology at the University of Innsbruck

18:30 -19:15 | Panel 2: Experts Discussion – Moving Forward: Addressing a Fundamental Rights Approach to Judicial Decision-Making on Flight Risk; Regional Impact, Challenges, and Potential Solutions

Speakers: 

  • Jesca Beneder, European Commission’s Team Leader for Detention and European Arrest Warrant, Criminal Procedural Law Unit, DG Justice and Consumers (DG JUST)
  • Dr. Walter Hammerschick, Department of Applied Sociology of Law and Criminology at the University of Innsbruck
  • Dr. Christina Peristeridou, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of Maastricht University
  • Moderator: Jean Tomkin, Senior Legal Advisor, Fair Trials
  • Interveners: Crépine Uwashema and Gwen Jansen-de Wolf, Defence Lawyers

19:15 – 19:30 – Q&A Session

19:30 onwards – Refreshments and Finger Food