Securing Renewed Consensus in Favor of the Reparative Mandate of the ICC
On 2 December 2024, the 7th Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims delivered its annual report to the Assembly of States Parties, which held its 23rd session in The Hague, The Netherlands. Also, between 28 November and 4 December 2024, the 7th Board held its 29th and final meeting, thereby concluding its mandate.
Upon concluding its mandate, the 7th Board of Directors, called on States Parties to provide substantial contributions to finance the programs for the benefit of victims in the 17 situations under the jurisdiction of the Court, which include more than 80,000 victims awaiting to receive reparations ordered by the ICC.
On 6 December 2024, the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) elected by acclamation five members of the 8th Board of Directors, which will be integrated by:
Mr Tareque Muhammad (Bangladesh)
Ms Mônica Jacqueline Sifuentes (Brazil)
Mr Andres Parmas (Estonia)
Mr Kevin Kelly (Ireland)
Mr Ibrahim Sorie Yillah (Sierra Leone)
The outgoing Chair of the Board of Directors, Ms Minou Tavárez Mirabal, expressed gratitude to the members of the 7 th Board of Directors for their service to victims and the ICC, stating: “I call upon the 8 th Board to continue the ambitious program of work to revitalize the Trust Fund for Victims, initiated by the 6 th Board of Directors under the leadership of Felipe Michelini. At its core lies the renewal of consensus from States Parties to the victim-centered mandate of the International Criminal Court.”
In 2024, the TFV has supported 24,000 victims through its programs of assistance, currently operating in 7 situations under the jurisdiction of the Court. In 2024, the ICC Trust Fund for Victims engaged in five reparations proceedings in the cases of Katanga , Lubanga , Al Mahdi , Ntaganda , and Ongwen . By year-end, reparations had been delivered to nearly 4,000 victims.
The first ICC Reparations Program concluded in the Katanga case, benefiting 297 victims of the 2003 attack on Bogoro village, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June 2024, financial compensation was delivered to 1,685 eligible victims for the Al Mahdi case. By October, ceremonial monuments and restored buildings were handed over to the Timbuktu community. The final phase of collective reparations is set to conclude in December 2025.
Friday, 29 November 2024, Homburg, The Saarland, Germany: The first Childhood House of Saarland opened ceremoniously in the presence of The Saarland’s Premier Anke Rehlinger, HM Queen Silvia of Sweden and Dr. Oskar Prinz von Preussen, Grand Master of the Johanniter Order.
The first Childhood House/Johanniter Child Protection Competence Center in Germany is located at the University Clinic of The Saarland.
“Children are not just adults of the future. They are our here and now! We must uphold their rights and support every child to the best possible way to grow up as a strong and self-determined individual”, emphasized Queen Silvia of Sweden during the opening.
The World Childhood Foundation, founded by her, is advocating for a childhood free from sexual violence and abuse worldwide. The Childhood House offers affected children after a suspicion of abuse a trauma-sensitive environment as well as professional support through medical, psychological and legal support.
Premier Rehlinger stressed: “Protecting children is a collective task. The Childhood Home provides a central point of contact for traumatized children and is an important step in improving the protection of children and young people from violence” as per a statement published by the Saarland State Chancellery on social media.
National Member for Spain Mr José de la Mata Amaya was elected Vice-President of Eurojust today. Mr de la Mata (62) will serve a four-year mandate and work closely with the recently elected new Eurojust President Mr Michael Schmid and fellow Vice-President Ms Margarita Šniutytė-Daugėlienė, to represent the Agency and oversee its management. The new Vice-President of Eurojust will take up his duties on 18 December.
Commenting on his election by his fellow National Members in the College of Eurojust, Mr de la Mata said: “It is a great privilege and responsibility to be elected by my peers as Vice-President of Eurojust. It will be an honour to lead together the collegial work of the Agency over the next four years. Our Agency will continue to collaborate with the judicial authorities of Member States, the European institutions and other agencies in the fight against criminal networks, which are increasingly operating on a global scale. We will also continue to develop our relations with international organisations, regional networks and judicial partners outside the EU. Through this coordinated approach, we will contribute to the common objective of guaranteeing our fellow citizens effective justice after due process, in an environment that enables security and allows the development of rights and freedoms for all.”
The new Vice-President of Eurojust is a Spanish judge. He started working for the judiciary in 1987 as an investigative judge in Algeciras and Cádiz and as a judge in criminal trials in Las Palmas. He later served as a judge in the Court of Appeals of Las Palmas and Madrid, and in the High Court of Justice in Madrid. From 2015 until becoming National Member for Spain at Eurojust in December 2020, Mr de la Mata served as judge at the Central Investigative Court No 5 of the National Court.
Furthermore, Mr de la Mata worked at the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary from 1993 to 2001, as Director of the Department for Continuing Training of Judges and later as Director of the International Relations Department. From 2003 to 2009, he was Legal Advisor at the Constitutional Court, and between 2009 and 2011 Director General of Modernisation at the Spanish Ministry of Justice and Secretary-General of the Administration of Justice.
The new Vice-President has been Contact Point for Spain in the Network of National Experts on joint investigation teams and is Contact Point for Spain in the European Judicial Network. He speaks Spanish and English.
Mr de la Mata replaces the National Member for Slovenia Mr Boštjan Škrlec, who decided not to run for a second mandate. The two Vice-Presidents of the Agency carry out duties entrusted to them by the President of the Agency and represent or replace him.
As a new Vice-President, Mr de la Mata will also be a member of the Executive Board of Eurojust, which assists the College of the Agency in its management functions and oversees the preparatory work of the Administrative Director, Mr Vincent Jamin. The College is the final body responsible for the organisation and operation of Eurojust, consisting of all National Members and a representative of the European Commission, with the exception of Denmark.
International operation takes down another encrypted messaging service used by criminals. It is not the first time and will not be the last time that authorities are able to read criminals’ messages in real time
Authorities are staying on top of the encrypted messaging services that criminals use to undertake their activities. A joint investigation team (JIT) involving French and Dutch authorities has taken down another sophisticated encrypted messaging service, MATRIX. For three months, authorities were able to monitor the messages from possible criminals, which will now be used to support other investigations. During a coordinated operation supported by Eurojust and Europol, the messaging service was taken down by Dutch and French authorities and follow-up actions were executed by their Lithuanian and Spanish counterparts.
MATRIX, a messaging service made by criminals for criminals, was first discovered by Dutch authorities on the phone of a criminal convicted for the murder of a Dutch journalist in 2021. A large-scale investigation into the messaging service was initiated.
It was soon clear that the infrastructure of this platform was technically more complex than previous platforms such as Sky ECC and EncroChat. The founders were convinced that the service was superior and more secure than previous applications used by criminals. Users were only able to join the service if they received an invitation. The infrastructure to run MATRIX consisted of more than 40 servers in several countries with important servers found in France and Germany.
Cooperation between the Dutch and French authorities started through a JIT set up at Eurojust. By using innovative technology, the authorities were able to intercept the messaging service and monitor the activity on the service for three months. More than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages were intercepted and deciphered during the investigation.
The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering. Actions to take down the service and pursue serious criminals happened on 3 December in four countries. In France, one suspect was arrested, and his house searched. In Spain, two suspects were arrested following a European Arrest Warrant from the Netherlands and six houses were searched. Six houses were searched in Lithuania. The main servers in France and Germany were taken down. During the operation EUR 145 000 cash was seized and EUR 500 000 in cryptocurrencies, as well as 4 cars and over 970 phones. A freezing order was put on a villa in Spain with an estimated value of EUR 15 million.
Criminals using the messaging service are alerted to the interception by the authorities through a splash page. Through legal requests, authorities will now be able to access the messages for their investigations.
The cross-border investigation into MATRIX is a clear example of the importance of international cooperation to fight serious organised crime. By working together in a JIT, Dutch and French authorities were able to exchange information and evidence swiftly and execute joint actions. To support investigations into the illegal activities enabled by this communication platform, an Operational Task Force (OTF) was established at Europol in June 2024 between the Netherlands, France, Lithuania, Italy and Spain. This taskforce played a key role in monitoring criminal activity on the platform. Europol’s OTF will also provide assistance with independent follow-up investigations stemming from intelligence gathered during the live phase of the operation. German authorities supported the operation with their technical expertise. Spanish authorities have been working with their French and Dutch counterparts since the early stages of the investigations.
The encrypted communication landscape has become more fragmented following the takedown of several services such as Sky ECC, EncroChat, Exclu and Ghost. Criminals, in response to the disruptions of their messaging services, have been turning to a variety of less-established or custom-built communication tools that offer varying degrees of security and anonymity. While the new fragmented landscape poses challenges for law enforcement, the takedown of established communication channels, shows that authorities are on top of the latest technologies that criminals use.
The following authorities were involved in the actions:
France: JUNALCO National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime; OFAC National Police Cybercrime division
Netherlands: Team High Tech Crime of the National Investigations; Special Operations (NIS) of the Netherlands Police; Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (National Office)
Germany: Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor General’s Office – ZIT; German Federal Criminal Police, Serious and Organised Crime Division
Italy: National Antimafia Directorate (D.N.A.); Central Directorate for Anti Drug Services (D.C.S.A.)
Lithuania: Prosecutor General’s Office; Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau
Spain: Central investigative Court 1 and 5 of Audiencia Nacional; Invesigative Court 1 of Marbella; Spanish National Police
Justice Must be Secured for Hundreds of Thousands of Victims and Survivors of the Assad Regime
Marking Human Rights Day
The Hague, 10 December 2024 – Events now unfolding in Syria have renewed hope among the families of an estimated 150,000 people who are missing as a result of the conflict. Some families have already experienced the joy and relief of being reunited with relatives who have been held in incommunicado detention. In the coming days, we hope that more prisoners will be released and reunited with families and that over the longer term their rights to justice and truth will be secured.
On Friday, as news came from Syria hour by hour, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) held a conference in The Hague that brought together representatives of CSOs and International Organizations working on the issue of missing Syrians. One of the participants, Batoul Karbijha, the co-founder of the Families of Missing Asylum Seekers association, spoke eloquently about the need for victims of disappearance and the families of victims to tell their own story. She stressed that the narrative of what has happened to tens of thousands of Syrian families should not be dictated by others.
In many cases, this is a narrative of resilience and courage in the face of unimaginable odds.
Karbijha established the association of missing asylums seekers after the disappearance of her sister Maysoon, who went missing – at the age of just 20 – in August 2014 while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. She was among 170 Syrians who disappeared in the same incident and whose fate remains unknown.
Karbijha pointed out that organizations have been collecting data on missing Syrians for years but that these efforts will not bear fruit without a clear and agreed strategy among different Syrian and international agencies. “When we talk about migration, we know where mass graves are; we have data from the families but we are not connecting the data.”
It is imperative in the light of what has now taken place in Syria, that all stakeholders cooperate. This cooperation will make it possible to set in place an effective missing persons process capable of addressing the huge number of cases related to Syria. Such a process will make use of genetic science and database technology hopefully within a new Syrian legislative and institutional framework. It will have the support of authorities inside and outside Syria and it will sustain momentum through the direct engagement of families of the missing.
For justice to prevail in Syria, steps must be taken now – in the midst of present events – to protect evidence that will shed light on the circumstances in which people were detained, the charges or the absence of charges that were brought against detainees, the conditions of detention and – in cases where detainees have not survived – the circumstances of death. Places where executions and other human rights violations have occurred are crime scenes. They must be sealed and in due course examined, to protect the truth and bring those responsible for crimes to justice.
Today – International Human Rights Day – there is a window of opportunity to take a giant step forward in accounting for Syria’s missing, including those who have disappeared in the mass displacement, at home and abroad, caused by the conflict.
Working with Syrian families of the missing and Syrian civil society organizations, ICMP has collected data from more than 76,200 relatives from Syria who have reported more than 28,200 missing persons. ICMP has also received reports concerning the location of 66 sites of mass graves in addition to two detention sites, through ICMP’s Online Inquiry Center (OIC) Site Locator and encourages those with information to use these resources to help find the missing.
ICMP looks forward to enhancing its cooperation with the UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria as it becomes fully operational. And, in the light of what has happened in recent days, ICMP looks forward to working with all stakeholders in Syria to ensure that the present opportunity to bring truth and justice to victims of enforced disappearance and their families is not missed.
On International Human Rights Day it is important to underline the fact that effective action can be taken quickly. Batoul Karbijha has spent years working with various organizations, investigating her sister’s disappearance. She and tens of thousands of Syrians have sought the truth – it is incumbent on all of us to work constructively and cooperatively to help them uncover that truth and to help them secure justice.
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) has charged Hashim Thaçi with obstruction-of-justice offences, pursuant to a confirmed indictment.
Mr Thaçi was in the Detention Facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers when served with an arrest warrant and has been charged with three counts of obstruction of official persons in performing official duties, four counts of violating secrecy of proceedings and four counts of contempt of court.
He will appear before a Pre-Trial Judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in relation to the additional crimes he is charged with.
The SPO also arrested Bashkim Smakaj, Isni Kilaj and Fadil Fazliu in Kosovo, pursuant to an arrest warrant and transfer order issued by a Pre-Trial Judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, for attempted obstruction of official persons in performing official duties and contempt of court.
Messrs Smakaj, Kilaj and Fazliu have been transferred to the Detention Facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague and will also appear before the court without undue delay.
Hajredin Kuçi has been summoned to appear at the Specialist Chambers where he is charged with two counts of contempt of court.
The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) provided operational and logistic support to the SPO, and the Kosovo Police provided operational support.
The SPO takes obstruction of justice extremely seriously and will continue to investigate and to prosecute anyone and everyone involved.
The Hague, 7 December 2024: Events now taking place in Syria are changing, by the hour, the nature of a conflict that is more than a decade old. This has a direct impact on efforts to account for the estimated 150,000 people who are missing as a result of fighting and human rights violations in Syria and as a result of forced displacement and migration.
Media reports this week describe the opening of prisons and other places of detention by advancing opposition forces. Detainees who have been held incommunicado for years – in some cases for decades – have been liberated.
The release of detainees has brought unspeakable relief to victims of illegal detention and their families, in Syria and in the worldwide Syrian diaspora, as well as for other nationals, such as the families of Lebanese detainees. It must be accompanied by an effort to protect evidence so that this relief can be translated into long-term justice. Present events have created an opportunity to account for the missing and to advance measures to bring justice to victims and their families – it is therefore crucial that documentary and other evidence are safeguarded as prisons and places of mass detention are opened and also in the event that clandestine and burial places are found. Places where executions and other human rights violations have occurred are crime scenes. They must be sealed and in due course documented, to protect the truth and bring those responsible for crimes to justice. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), working with Syrian families of the missing and Syrian Civil society organizations, has collected data from more than 76,200 relatives from Syria who have reported more than 28,200 missing persons.
ICMP has also received reports concerning the location of 66 sites of mass graves in addition to two detention sites, through ICMP’s Online Inquiry Center (OIC) Site Locator and encourages those with information to use these resources to help find the missing. ICMP looks forward to enhancing its cooperation with the UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria as it becomes fully operational to support efforts to find the huge number of missing persons.
ICMP’s Syria/MENA Program is supported by Germany, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
The maritime security of the Indian Ocean region (IOR) has attracted increased attention due to the intensifying US-China rivalry. The IOR refers to the Indian Ocean (IO) and 38 states surrounding it. It stands at a crossroads of global trade and energy; hence, its security is vital amid geopolitical competition among the global and regional powers. As an established power, the US identifies China as a threat to regional and international order and seeks to counter it through its Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS).
As an emerging power, China claims multilateralism as a replacement for the current world order and leverages its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to achieve its objectives. The US-China rivalry is reshaping the maritime security dynamics in IOR through militarisation. However, the two powers may not resort to an armed conflict due to underlying reasons that necessitate a peaceful coexistence.
The strategic importance of the IOR is paramount. It serves as a vital conduit for global maritime trade, connecting trade destinations across the globe, including the Asia Pacific, South Asia, West Asia, Africa, and Europe. Annually, over 100,000 ships transit the seven strategic straits of the Ocean, facilitating about 80% of the world’s trade. This underscores the critical role the IO plays in global trade and security. The pie chart represents the international average annual trade volume, while Table 1 reveals that 65-70% of global oil trade transits the straits as of mid-2023. The straits of Hormuz, Bab-el-Mandeb, and Malacca remain pivotal, with 43% of China’s oil trade and 18% of the US oil trade passing through them as of September 2024.
By Adrak HussainBy Adrak Hussain
Various task forces of different states are active in the region for collective security against piracy, smuggling, and terrorism, which also serve strategic purposes like dominating the choke points. These forces include the Combined Maritime Force of 38 nations led by the US, which includes Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, CTF 152, CTF 153, and CTF 154; the US Fifth Fleet; EU Naval Force-Operation Atlanta; French Carrier Strike Group (CSG); Indian Navy Task Force; Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Task Force; Pakistan Navy Task Force, TF 86; Iran Navy, IRGC Naval Force; Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and Littoral Response Group of United Kingdom. The region’s importance justifies the deployment of task forces and requires cooperation for collective security and governance, but the strategies of the US and China speak otherwise.
“Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will dominate Asia. In the 21st century, the destiny of the world will be decided on its waters.”Alfred Thayer Mahan
In the maritime arena of IOR, the US strategy is to maintain its naval dominance, freedom of navigation and trade, control over choke points, and counter China’s rising influence. The US IPS views China as a primary threat seeking hegemony by displacing the US and rules-based international order through BRI and naval modernisation. The US has increased its maritime presence and allied with India, a member of the QUAD alliance, empowering it as a counter-balancing power to China in IOR through agreements like the Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Exchange (LEMOA), Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA).
In addition to the already established bases near the strategic straits, the US is seeking a naval base in Bangladesh’s Saint Martin Island in the Bay of Bengal to monitor the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). In short, the primary goal of the US is to counter the so-called Chinese “String of Pearls Strategy”. This strategy, often attributed to China, involves establishing a military and commercial facilities network in the IOR, which could potentially be used to protect China’s maritime trade routes and project its influence in the region.
The maritime strategy of China has significantly evolved to include “Far Seas Protection” besides “Near Seas Defence”. This concept of ‘Far Seas Protection’ refers to China’s strategy of extending its naval presence and influence beyond its immediate maritime borders, particularly in the IOR. However, its strategy in IOR lacks any reference in the 2019 defence white paper titled “China’s National Defense in the New Era”. China aims to secure a critical foothold in IOR through BRI by establishing ports and infrastructure across IOR, including ports in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
China has maintained a low naval presence to protect its Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) with the help of a single PLAN Task Force and a military support base in Djibouti. However, it conducts naval exercises with regional powers like Pakistan and Iran and extra-regional powers like Russia in the IO, signalling its readiness to cooperate with other states while demonstrating its resolve to protect its maritime interests.
The US-China rivalry and the consequent strategies seriously affect the region’s maritime security. Firstly, it led to the militarisation of the choke points, as indicated by increased surveillance, deployments of naval forces, and alliance building. It will lead to a struggle for a balance of power and nuclear deterrence. Secondly, the rivalry may threaten the freedom of trade in times of tension, which is not in their interest as both powers depend on IO for trade. In addition, the rivalry impacts the strategic calculus of regional states, which could cause an arms race in the IO.
Finally, it decreases the chances of cooperation among the rival powers. However, they have not resorted to a zero-sum game, in which the other party’s loss balances one party’s gain. They undermined the governance and collective security against piracy, smuggling, and terrorism by complicating maritime security. All these factors necessitate a peaceful coexistence for the two powers in IOR.
Since the US dominates the choke points of IOR, China needs to reduce its dependence on them to avoid the choke points dilemma, avoid militarisation, and maintain peace in the maritime domain of IOR. The Littoral States of IO, like Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan, can provide alternative paths for Chinese trade that bypass the Malacca Strait. However, Pakistan provides the best alternative as it will significantly reduce the time and cost of transportation for Chinese trade, providing the shortest route to reach the energy-rich Middle East and beyond.
The integration of Iran into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will provide an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for energy trade between Iran and China. By including Iraq and Syria in BRI and establishing a land route from Pakistan to the Mediterranean, China can also avoid the Bab-el-Mandeb and Suez Canal. In short, Pakistan’s geographical position, better relations with China, and hosting the CPEC provide the best option for China to avoid the US-dominated choke points and reduce the threat to maritime security.
About the author:
Adrak Hussain
Adrak Hussain, pursuing Mphil in strategic studies from national defence university.
Currently working as an intern at DSS branch ISSRA. strategic interests include defence, foreign policy, maritime security, great power strategies and warfare
On 3 December 2024, the International Criminal Court and the Government of the Republic of Poland have concluded an Agreement on the Enforcement of Sentences.
The President of the Court, Judge Tomoko Akane, and Ms Maria Ejchart, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Poland, signed the agreement during a plenary session at the twenty-third meeting of the Court’s Assembly of States Parties in The Hague. Under the agreement, persons convicted by the ICC may serve sentences of imprisonment in Poland if so decided by the Court and accepted by the Government of Poland.
Emphasizing that the enforcement of sentences is a crucial element of a well-functioning and complete criminal justice system, President Tomoko Akane thanked Poland for its unwavering support and stated:
“Through today’s signature of an enforcement agreement with the Court, Poland demonstrates once more its strong commitment to international criminal justice and to enabling the proper functioning of the Court in all its aspects. Such voluntary cooperation is all the most important in challenging times and as we see more cases reaching the enforcement stage.”
She also expressed hope that other States Parties will follow the example of Poland and show their support to the work of the Court by signing an agreement on the enforcement of sentences.
Undersecretary of State Maria Ejchart said that: “We do want the conclusion of this agreement to indicate that the Republic of Poland fulfills its international obligations, particularly in the area of prosecuting and punishing international crimes. Let it also be tangible proof of the steadfast support of Poland extended to the Court and the Rome Statute system. By entering into this agreement, Poland demonstrates its unwavering commitment to ensuring the proper functioning of the Court.”
The Rome Statute, the Court’s founding treaty, provides that sentences of imprisonment imposed by the ICC “shall be served in a State designated by the Court from a list of States which have indicated to the Court their willingness to accept sentenced persons”.
Similar agreements on the enforcement of sentences are currently in force between the ICC and Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Mali, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .
With support from Eurojust, the German and Serbian authorities have taken down a drug trafficking network operating from the Rhine-Main area of Germany. Today, in a coordinated action, ten suspects were arrested and around thirty places searched in connection to the smuggling and distribution of tens of kilos of mainly cocaine throughout different European countries. Eurojust supported the German and Serbian authorities with setting up and financing a joint investigation team (JIT) into the organised crime group (OCG).
The OCG had allegedly been importing illicit drugs from the Netherlands to the Rhine-Main area since 2022, using several locations such as cafés as front stores for its illegal activities. The drugs were transported to these locations in cars with hidden compartments for further distribution by couriers to Serbia, but also other EU Member States and third countries.
Among the arrested suspects are the alleged ringleaders, couriers and street dealers. The Serbian part of the network operated from a café in Sremska Mitrovica. Investigations into the OCG are ongoing and an adequate estimate of the proceeds cannot be given at this stage.
Investigations into the OCG were initiated in Serbia also in 2022, showing links between the two countries involved in today’s operation. Eurojust assisted with the financing and setting up of the JIT in August this year and organised four coordination meetings to prepare for the joint actions in Germany and Serbia.
Furthermore, the Agency supported the execution of requests for Mutual Legal Assistance between Serbia and Germany. Serbia is one of the 12 countries outside the EU that have a Liaison Prosecutor based at Eurojust in The Hague*. During the action day, close to 400 police officers were deployed in Germany and Serbia.
Furthermore, six kilos of cocaine, several vehicles with hidden compartments, weapons, ammunition and luxury watches were seized, as well as at least EUR 60 000 in cash, a device to detect intercepted communications and various mobile phones and laptops.
The actions of this week were carried out at the request of and by the following authorities:
Germany: Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) (Staatsanwaltschaft) Wiesbaden; Regional Criminal Police of Hesse (Landeskriminalamt Hessen), Wiesbaden
Serbia: PPO for Organised Crime; Ministry of Interior Affairs, Service for Combating Organised Crime
*The other countries with Liaison Prosecutors at Eurojust are: Albania, Georgia, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States
