Three prosecutors - Galya Marinova, Deputy Head of Sofia Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal, Irina Armenova, prosecutor at Sofia Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal, and Valentina Madzharova, Deputy Head of Burgas Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal, took part in the 9th Meeting of the Permanent Conference of Organised Crime Prosecutors, which took place in the period 21-23 February in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.
During the forum, the commitments were outlined regarding the presidency of the Permanent Conference’Secretariat, which was officially handed over to the Sofia Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal, represented by prosecutor Galya Marinova. From 06.12.2021 the presidency was hold by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, but after its closure at the end of July 2022, this important role was taken over by the Appellate Prosecutor's Office - Sofia.
Magistrates from all member states also participated in the 9th Meeting, including prosecutors from Anti-Mafia Italy, the Specialized Prosecutor's Offices of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Republic of North Macedonia, Albania, Greece, the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime of Serbia, representatives of the OSCE and etc.
“Our long-standing cooperation manifests itself in the good results of our joint work in the fight against organized crime. The goals that have been fulfilled and implemented so far can be defined as steps that we are building collectively in order to be part of creating a sense of a safe future for the peoples of Europe," said prosecutor Galya Marinova during the forum.
As the Head of the Secretariat, she undertook a commitment for the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office to work further for strengthening the good model of interaction and communication that the member states maintain. Prosecutor Marinova stressed the need to strengthen cooperation in the execution of mutual legal assistance requests, pointing out the important role of prior access to information about the criteria in the national legislation of each of the member states.
"Of significant practical importance is the possibility of giving information about the methods of investigation provided for in the procedural laws in the countries," said Marinova.
The Chair of the Secretariat outlined the priorities at the work of Bulgarian Presidency during the 4-year mandate. Among them are the expansion of the network by the accession the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria to the Permanent Conference.
Within the framework of the presidency, the possibility will be discussed for the Republic of Türkiye to be invited to participate in the Secretariat, because of its key geostrategic role for the movement of migrant flow towards the whole of Europe. "The peculiarities and problems of migration, as well as the crimes related to it, require a uniform approach between European countries. The cooperation with our colleagues from Türkiye will be of great importance," emphasized Galya Marinova.
Prosecutor Valentina Madzharova presented to the participants a number of organized crime cases on which the Specialized Prosecutor's Office had worked successfully before its closure. She gave specific examples of proceedings related to tax fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes that are already in a trial stage.
"If you have a legal basis, you can react, but if you don't have it, you can't do anything, and there's really no possibility to conduct a successful investigation, especially concerning the organized criminal group," said Stiliyan Cortese, representative of the Italian Ministry of Finance.
"Follow the path of money" - these words of the legendary Italian prosecutor Giovanni Falcone recalled during his presentation Michele Del Prete from the Italian Anti-Mafia in connection with the most effective methods of investigating organized crime.
The conference participants in Belgrade discussed the challenges facing countries in Europe in relation to the growing transnational nature of terrorist networks, the risks of cyber threats and increasing use of digital technologies to commit crimes.
The work of the Permanent Conference of Organised Crime Prosecutors is carried out with the support of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Currently active members of the Conference are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.