Between 2020 and 2024, the Office of the Prosecutor for Organised Crime concluded 520 plea agreements. Nearly every second case under its jurisdiction during this period was resolved in this manner — through court-accepted plea agreements.
The highest number of agreements concerned the offences of unlawful border crossing and human smuggling (169), followed by unauthorised production and trafficking of narcotic drugs (71).
While plea agreements significantly contribute to the efficiency of proceedings, a key question remains: do they genuinely lead to the exposure of the main actors within criminal networks, or are proceedings predominantly focused on lower-level members?
The application of this legal instrument must be balanced in order to ensure that the fight against organised crime is substantive rather than merely formal. Otherwise, there is a risk that this mechanism becomes a tool for swiftly closing cases without achieving meaningful results in dismantling organised criminal networks.
