The role of the prosecution system as guardians of the rule of law must continue to be enhanced. This was emphasized by Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia Anna Vardapetyan while summarizing the results of the two-day high-level international conference that commenced in Yerevan on 1 July 2026 within the framework of the Armenian for European Prosecutors’ Dialogue.

In this context, the Prosecutor General highlighted the importance of continuous professional education and, in this regard, the value of discipline. “Learning something new is not about forcing yourself. Discipline is about filling your free time with meaningful and enjoyable new knowledge,” Anna Vardapetyan stressed, inviting prosecutors from across Europe to begin considering the agenda for the 2027 conference to be held within the framework of the Armenian Platform for European Prosecutors’ Dialogue, with particular emphasis on issues related to the protection of victims’ rights.

The Prosecutor General expressed gratitude to the Council of Europe and the European Union for their reliable, effective and continuous cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, noting that it has evolved into a strategic partnership.

Maxime Longangué, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, highly commended the results of cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office and emphasized that the Armenian Platform for European Prosecutors’ Dialogue provides a solid foundation for continuing this cooperation.

As previously reported, during the two-day conference participants discussed current issues relating to the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes, the identification, freezing, management, recovery and confiscation of illicitly acquired assets, as well as victim-centred justice.

The discussions also addressed emerging forms of financial crime, including fraud involving artificial intelligence, criminal schemes using crypto-assets, and effective mechanisms for detecting and investigating money laundering and corruption offences.

Participants further examined effective models for the management of illicitly acquired assets, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning property (assets) acquired through unlawful means, as well as international best practices for protecting the rights and interests of victims of crime.

The thematic sessions were moderated by Evgeni Evgeniev, Head of Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) of the Directorate of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law the Council of Europe; Narine Gasparyan, Adviser to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia and Lilit Daneghyan, Deputy Director of the Cooperation Programmes Division within the Council of Europe’s Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice, and Legal Cooperation Standards of the Council of Europe.

Presentations on the above topics were delivered by:

• Maurizio Varanese, Council of Europe expert and Chief Inspector of the Rome Investigative Directorate;  
• Victoria Buttigieg, Attorney General of the Republic of Malta (online);
• Mikołaj Tyburczy, Prosecutor at the National Public Prosecutor’s Office of Poland;
• Tsovak Mnatsakanyan, Senior Prosecutor of the Department of Supervision over Legality of Pre-trial Proceedings in the RA Anti-Corruption Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia;
• Filipe César Vilarinho Marques, Council of Europe expert and Judicial Assistant at the Portuguese Court of Auditors;  
• Edgar Arsenyan, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia;
• Despina Kyprianou, Vice-President of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE);
• James Shaw, Senior Legal Officer of the Illicit Financial Flows and Asset Recovery Team at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (online);
• Sylvie Martinez Canton, Council of Europe expert, Judge of the Court of Appeal and Liaison Prosecutor for cooperation with France and Switzerland;
• Gevorg Gyozalyan, Judge of the Anti-Corruption Chamber of the Court of Cassation of the Republic of Armenia;
• Fulvio Baldi, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Italy;
• Alexandra Lancranjan, Prosecutor of the International Judicial Cooperation Service of the Public Ministry of Romania;
• Inga Savchenko, Acting prosecutor of the State Security Protection Department, Office of the Prosecutor General  of Latvia;
• Anca Jurma, Council of Europe expert, former Adviser to the Chief Prosecutor of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate, and Vice-Chair of the OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia's Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan;
• Michael Leitner, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Austria.

At the conclusion of the conference, Artashes Melikyan, Head of the Secretariat of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE), presented the key provisions of the draft CCPE Opinion No. 21 (2026).