Thanks to international legal cooperation, trials have been initiated in Serbia in several organised crime cases. In its new infographic, the prEUgovor coalition presents a five-year overview of practice in this area.
In the context of limited capacities and political instrumentalisation of domestic institutions responsible for combating organised crime, international legal assistance represents one of the key mechanisms for dismantling criminal networks and establishing the responsibility of their members before the courts.
In the period 2020-2024, the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime (TOK) fully acted on 80% of received requests for international legal assistance, while only 29% of the requests issued by TOK to foreign partners were implemented.
Mutual legal assistance in the narrow sense includes the execution of specific procedural actions in criminal proceedings. This involves questioning accused persons, examining witnesses and experts, conducting inspections and searches, temporarily seizing items, conducting surveillance and recording communications, as well as exchanging information and serving court documents. It also covers measures such as the temporary surrender of detained persons to give testimony or participate in a confrontation.
