On the occasion of the Day of the Prosecution, on June 11 2019, a ceremony was held by the Office of the Attorney General in the ceremonial hall of the Curia. At the event, the Attorney General, dr. Péter Polt awarded the Pro Cooperatione Medal to dr. Tünde Handó, president of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ).

Following the award of the prize, in her speech, dr. Tünde Handó recalled the common roots and goals of the prosecution and court professions and highlighted the importance of continuous cooperation between different legal professions. As she said, it is very important that the partner organizations help each other continuously. To this end, the court pays special attention to the cooperation with other legal professions’ organizations, and this effort has been included in the strategic goals of the judiciary since 2012.

Dr. Tünde Handó emphasized that in the recent years there has been an exemplary relationship between the court and the prosecution organization, which has resulted in a number of significant results. Among these, she mentioned for example the close professional cooperation during the development of the new Code of Criminal Procedure, which continued after the entry into force. She added that there is a constant dialogue between the different legal professions regarding the new Code of Civil Procedure as well, for example, the prosecution’s representatives participate in a national conference series organized jointly by the Hungarian Law Society and the NOJ, entitled ‘Experiences of Practical Application of the New Code of Civil Procedure’, which is a great opportunity to discuss practical law enforcement experiences. She also highlighted the continued cooperation between the court and the prosecution in developing electronic communications, especially in criminal proceedings. In this, the most recent step forward is solving the forwarding of serialized and numbered documents of the criminal proceedings between the investigating authority, the prosecution and the court.

Dr. Tünde Handó also mentioned the Moneyval Work Team, as a good example for the cooperation, in which judges and prosecutors jointly elaborated a proposal for the detection of money laundering in line with the recommendation of the Committee of Experts on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing of the Council of Europe, and are currently working together on legislative amendments. 

She thanked the prosecution organization for its knowledge base on cybercrime and the continued provision of knowledge sharing and highlighted the role of the cooperation agreement with the National Criminology Institute. She then pointed out the positive effects of common thinking and joint action beyond the professional work, as a result of which, for example, many building investments have already been made together with the prosecution. As an example, she mentioned the exemplary renewed and extended common building of the Eger Regional Court and the Heves County Prosecutor’s Office, and the ongoing renovations. 

Finally, she emphasized that only this way can the co-operation of the judiciary and the prosecution best serve the interests of the law-seeking citizens and the nation as a whole, thus bringing Hungarian justice to success.