As part of the project "Building the capacity of actors of the criminal justice system to improve the implementation of legislation", which the Judicial Academy is implementing in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia, on December 17 and 18, 2025, in the hotel "Vila Breg" in Vršac, a two-day pilot seminar was held for the first group of newly elected public prosecutors on the topic of hearing defendants and examining witnesses.

In criminal proceedings, in addition to the collection and evaluation of forensic evidence, the statements of defendants, witnesses and victims play a key role. This is particularly important in cases where the statements of vulnerable victims or witnesses, such as victims of sexual violence or human trafficking, may be the only or key evidence. As prosecutors conduct investigations, the manner in which they conduct hearings in such cases is of crucial importance. The goal of the training was to improve the skills and techniques of hearings used by public prosecutors.

The working group, composed of public prosecutors and professors from the Criminalistics and Police University in Belgrade, developed the Forensic Interview Manual, which was also the working material for this workshop.

Members of the working group and lecturers at this training were:
• Tatjana Lagumdžija, chief public prosecutor in the Appellate Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad;
• Zoran Jakovljević, chief public prosecutor in the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Zrenjanin;
• Leposava Vujanović Porubović, senior public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade;
• prof. Dr. Valentina Baić, Criminalistics and Police University in Belgrade;
• prof. Dr. Zvonimir Ivanović, Criminalistics and Police University in Belgrade.