"We fully support the judicial and penal reform processes underway at the Justice Ministry, including their initiative to develop a national Probation Service," said Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre.

"The provision of probation has become a valued asset in many countries as a way to alleviate an overload of cases heard by judicial courts, to offer judges the option of non-custodial sentencing and to utilise the probationary method as a way to reintegrate minor and juvenile offenders successfully back into society."

Deputy Justice Minister Sergey Zubov added: "We are trying to offer comprehensive assistance to convicted people through social reintegration and rehabilitation. This will help to prevent new offences in the future."

The OSCE assistance is based on the Justice Ministry’s initiative to develop a National Probation Service in the context of the reform of the judicial and penal systems.

In September 2008, the OSCE Centre supported a trip to Sweden for inspectors of the probation service to study the work of the equivalent institutions.