Prosecution

By the end of month, Montenegro will appoint a chief special prosecutor for organized crime and corruption, war crimes and human trafficking - as part of a drive to prove that it is worthy of membership of the European Union.

Two prosecutors and a judge who initiated Turkey's biggest corruption investigation will be tried in the Supreme Court of Appeals as an Istanbul court decided on June 15 to send their indictments to the top court.

Prime minister Victor Ponta said on Monday, after he was heard at the legal Committee with the Chamber of Deputies, that he has told the members of this forum that the political decisions could not be censored by a prosecutor.

The shopkeeper who stabbed journalist Nuh Köklü to death after a snowball reportedly hit his shop's window during a snowball fight involving the journalist and his friends has been given an indictment of life in prison as the investigation into the murder, which involved two suspects and 13 complainants, has been completed.

Chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi denied on Friday any connection between the summons of certain persons for hearings at the anti-corruption authority and the current public events.

Nebojsa Stefanovic says sincerely hoped that new evidence and serious work by the police and prosecutor would help find those responsible in the Bytyqi case.

The interior minister told a press conference that he could not give details that might jeopardize the investigation, but stressed that earlier investigations had been flawed.

Several prosecutors associations in Serbia asked the Constitutional Court on June 3 to review the rulebook on the election of new prosecutors.

They voice concerns that the future elections leave room for abuses and could postpone the opening of chapters 23 and 24, the key chapters in the membership negotiations with the EU.

Lawyers for Zaev and the other defendants in the case want the Skopje Criminal Court to dismiss the charges against them and confirm that grounds for criminal prosecution and a trial do not exist.

An organized crime group stealing luxury vehicles in Bulgaria has been intercepted.

The operation was led by the Sliven District Military Prosecutor's Office as one of the members of the criminal group was a military officer.

Some of the stolen cars were dismantled and sold for parts, while others had their chassis and engine numbers manipulated in order to be resold.

President Klaus Iohannis signed on Tuesday the decree appointing Daniel-Constantin Horodniceanu to the position of chief prosecutor of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) for a three-year term, the Presidential Administration announced.

Photo credit: (c) Alex MICSIK / AGERPRES ARCHIVE