PRT SALAH AD DIN: FIRST JUDICIAL CONFERENCE SINCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000872

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: FIRST JUDICIAL CONFERENCE SINCE
1999

Classified By: PRT Leader Rick Bell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

(U) This is a PRT Salah ad Din reporting cable.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On March 12 - 14, the Salah ad Din (SAD)
judiciary held its first conference since 1999. The
conference enhanced esprit de corps and exchange of
information among the judges, and helped facilitate improved
relations between the judiciary and police. The Iraqis
gladly gave up their weekend in order to participate, and
their contributions to the USG-funded conference helped to
save more than half the allotted budget. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The SAD judges held a successful conference in
Sulaymaniyah, facilitated by QRF funding obtained by the SAD
PRT Rule of Law team. At their request, the event was held
Friday-Saturday, the Iraqi weekend. Fifty-three Iraqis
attended, including 48 of 60 judges, the court administrator,
the president of the bar association, the Provincial Director
of Police, and two police colonels in charge of the
Investigations and High Crimes sections.


3. (SBU) They convened as a group for the first time since
1999, and seized the opportunity to discuss pressing matters
both formally and informally. The longest discussion on the
formal agenda was with the police representatives, and a
lively back and forth ensued, with several commitments for
improvements resulting. The judges also had sections on
civil law, family law, the enforcement of judgments,
administrative matters, the security agreement, and the
coordination of investigations of security detainees released
by Coalition Forces. The judges had not had a conference
since before the war, and many of them (about half, by one
reckoning) had not met each other.


4. (U) The evaluations of the conference were very
laudatory. "The benefit of this conference is the
wide-ranging discussion about investigative techniques and
speaking about the issues that we as judges face, and trying
to fix them in coordination with the Coalition Forces," said
one of the judges. "I liked the coordination and exchange of
experience between the judges and the opportunity to meet all
the judges in the province," said another.


5. (U) In addition to the formal training, the conference
served to build esprit de corps among the judges and to
enhance communication and narrow cultural differences between
the judiciary and police.


6. (SBU) Although $24,000 of QRF funding was budgeted for the
conference, total costs will be less than $10,000 due to
contributions from the Iraq side: the Iraqis contributed
planning and site selection efforts, transportation to a
central site to board buses, and security for transportation
of the judges to the Kurdish Region. The PRT and partner BCT
(3/25 ID) assisted with financing, planning for the event,
coordination for the border crossing into the Kurdish Region,
and additional protection of the conference site by Kurdish
authorities. The Salah ad Din PRT was greatly assisted in
its efforts by the Kirkuk PRT Rule of Law team.
BUTENIS