WORKSHOP ON IMPROVING COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME WITH AN EXPERT FROM FRANCE HELD AT THE BIH PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

An expert workshop was held at the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which refers to the methodology of institutional cooperation and correspondence in requests for mutual legal assistance in the prosecution of criminal offences.

Milanko Kajganić, Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, addressed the participants of the workshop, and Isabelle Arnal, Team Leader of the EU4JUSTICE project, gave an opening speech.

The workshop topics pertain to mutual legal assistance, with a focus on basic principles and practical advice, while practical experiences and the methodology of mutual legal assistance were presented by Ms. Frederique Dubost, France’s liaison judge for judicial cooperation in the Western Balkans.

The expert workshop was attended by prosecutors, investigators and legal officers from the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as prosecutors from the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the Sarajevo Canton.

Workshop participants had the opportunity to discuss requests for mutual legal assistance, international conventions, exchange of information, as well as communication in extradition cases, international warrants, exchange of intelligence and communication channels involving Interpol, Europol and networks of police and judicial attachés.

Cooperation with the institutions of the Republic of France is extremely present and important in the work on cases with evidence from encrypted applications such as Sky, Anom and others, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina implements requests for mutual cooperation in dozens of cases annually.

The workshop was organized within the framework of the EU4JUSTICE project, funded by the EU.