Judges and prosecutors from across Moldova enhanced their knowledge and practical skills in adjudicating financial crime cases involving virtual assets during a two-day OSCE workshop, held on 20 and 21 October in Chisinau.
Organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) in co-operation with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the Republic of Moldova, the workshop built upon the first training held in September 2025 . It provided advanced, hands-on exercises to strengthen judicial understanding of blockchain technology, virtual asset investigations, and the presentation of digital evidence in court.
"We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for OSCE's support in the continuous training activities organized by the National Institute of Justice," said Ghennadi Epure, Deputy Director of the NIJ. "We express our hope that, through joint efforts, we will succeed in forming a professional body of prosecutors and judges - equipped with advanced and specialized knowledge in the field of investigating crimes involving the use of electronic and virtual currencies," he added.
The training placed particular emphasis on practical exercises and mock trials, allowing participants to simulate courtroom presentations, translate complex technical data into accessible legal arguments, and develop strategies for asset tracing, seizure, and confiscation of virtual assets.
"This kind of crime is relatively new for Moldova. Criminal prosecution authorities do not have so much experience in handling such cases and I believe that the topics covered in this workshop are very timely and they will be very useful for our work," said one of the participating prosecutors.
As in the first session, the workshop was preceded by a public lecture on virtual assets, offering future judges and prosecutors the opportunity to learn about crime typologies involving virtual assets, and to analyse a real-life case study from a neighbouring country.
These activities were organized as part of the OSCE extrabudgetary project, "Innovative policy solutions to mitigate money-laundering risks of virtual assets", implemented by OCEEA, with the financial support from Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States.
