Exchange of experiences in Amman on international legal cooperation in the field of criminal law
- Details
- Published: July 18, 2018

On 10 and 11 July 2018, an exchange of experiences on international legal cooperation in the field of criminal law took place within the framework of the institutional funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV). This was organised by the IRZ together with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Court of Jordan and the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Amman.
The event was attended on the Jordanian side by some high-ranking participants, including the Secretary General at the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, Ziad Al Dmour, who also gave the opening address on behalf of the Ministry.
As well as the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, the participants also included Jordan’s three Offices of the Public Prosecutors General in Amman, Irbid and Ma’an, as well as the heads of other district prosecutor’s offices. The German experts appointed by the IRZ to take part in the event were Nicolaus Alvino, a local court judge from the BMJV and Senior Public Prosecutor Thomas Junge from the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Berlin.
During the two-day discussions, practical questions on major and minor legal assistance were discussed from the German and Jordanian points of view. There were presentations of the legal framework on both sides, individual procedures and responsibilities, the search process and business practices. In the case of extradition proceedings, the presentations covered assurances, detention conditions according to international standards and monitoring.
Using practical examples of cases from Germany and Jordan, the speakers illustrated the various individual topics and tried to provide possible solutions to common problems encountered in practice.
Mutual legal assistance between Germany and Jordan has so far taken place through diplomatic channels. This leads to delays in proceedings, which makes the mutual legal assistance more difficult on both sides. Jordan has already made bilateral extradition agreements with various countries, including the USA, France, Great Britain, Australia and Brazil. Other agreements, e.g. with Romania and Ukraine, are currently being prepared. To make mutual legal assistance with Germany easier, it may be conceivable for Jordan to enter the European extradition agreement. This alternative still needs to be examined by the Jordanians.
During the course of the discussions, it became clear that there are also certain communication problems when it comes to international legal assistance and extradition processes between the various Jordanian parties, in particular between the Ministry of Justice and the public prosecutor’s offices involved. And so the event went beyond a German-Jordanian exchange of experiences to become a forum for discussion involving internal exchange between the Jordanian parties to the proceedings, moderated by the German experts. This was extremely helpful from the point of view of all the Jordanian parties concerned and was welcomed wholeheartedly.
The event fortunately also meant that the IRZ could follow up its existing cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, which should now be intensified still further with other joint events.