The Rector of the Institute Irena Lapina and the Head of the Institute’s Department Anna Ostrovskaya took part in the International Legal Forum «Tashkent Law Spring» organized by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan held in Tashkent.

The forum participants included national and foreign highly qualified specialists from all areas of the legal industry, including forensic examination. Several official events were held within the framework of the Forum.

Representatives of Uzbekistan and foreign delegations spoke at the opening and plenary session which was held on April 25, 2019. The topics of the speeches reflected topical issues of countering crime in various spheres of society, the spread of terrorism and drug trafficking.

After the plenary session the forum participants started working in thematic sessions. So the Republican Centre of Forensic Expertise named after Kh. Suleymanova under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a round table on topical aspects of forensic activities «International experience in organizing activities of state and non-state expert institutions».

Representatives from Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Belarus, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Georgia, the USA, Great Britain as well as representatives of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Central Asia and the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) took part in the event. There were presentations and discussions on special topics. Among which were:

• reforms in the forensic examination system and international accreditation in the USA (Mark Mogle, Senior Forensic Advisor, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, U.S. Department of Justice);
• the modern state of forensic activity in the Russian Federation (Svetlana Smirnova, Director of the Russian Federal Center of Forensic Science of the Ministry of Justice, doctor of law, professor, honored scientist of the Russian Federation, honored lawyer of the Russian Federation, corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences);
• activities of the National Forensic Bureau of Georgia (George Tvauri, Director of Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, Georgia);
• activities of the State Institution «Scientific and Practical Center of the State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus» at the present stage (Igor Moroz, Head of the State Institution «Scientific and Practical Center of the State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus);
• organization and regulation of activities of forensic examination institutions in Germany (Rainer Dahlenburg, Senior Forensic Expert of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Germany);
• organization of activities of forensic examination institutions in the Republic of Lithuania (Vidmantas Vaitekunas, Deputy Director of the Forensic Science Center of Lithuania by the Ministry of Justice);
• United Kingdom forensic services (Ashley Barrow, a member of the forensic examination working group of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland);
• the structure of forensic examination services in the Netherlands (Wim Neuteboom, a consultant of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes, the Netherlands);
• expert-criminalistic service of Italian Police (Serena Detti, an expert on drugs, Italian Police) and other.

The round table on problems and prospects of forensic activity was continued on the basis of the Republican Centre of Forensic Expertise named after Kh. Suleymanova under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan on April 26, 2019. The meeting began with the report by the Rector of the Institute Irena Lapina «Historical and practical aspects of additional education of forensic experts in the Republic of Belarus». The report with a presentation on the activities of the Institute and the subject of training of forensic experts, in particular, aroused interest and served as the beginning of a discussion, during which each of the participants spoke about the experience of training experts in their country.

During the meeting participants of the round table also discussed the organization of activities of non-state experts and expert institutions, problems of the quality of forensic examinations and mechanisms for its assessment, opportunities and needs for the introduction of innovative and information technologies in forensic activities.

The participants of the round table were acquainted with the material and technical base of the Republican Centre of Forensic Expertise named after Kh. Suleymanova under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan in a recently opened specialized building. Except expert laboratories the administrative and training facilities of the Center were demonstrated. During the demonstration Uzbek colleagues noted the introduction of Belarusian experience in training forensic experts, which they learned during a visit to the Institute in autumn 2018.

The received information and business contacts will allow further exchange of experience and information about scientific, practical and educational events with representatives of the Center and other organizations that participated in the Forum and will have a fruitful impact on international cooperation.