Croatia

Croatia

The Croatian Desk is headed by Josip Čule, who is the National Member for Croatia since September 2013.

In 2022, the Croatian Desk was involved in 146 new cases, 4 coordination meetings, and 2 coordination centres.

National Member

National Member

Josip Čule has been the National Member for Croatia since September 2013. He previously served as Eurojust Liaison Prosecutor for Croatia. Mr Čule has more than 38 years of experience of working within Croatia’s justice system. He concluded his law studies in Split in 1981 and passed the Bar exam in 1986 before going on to become Court Advisor at the County Court of Split. In 1991, he became a judge at the Criminal Department at the County Court in Split and Deputy President of the same court. At the County Court, he worked as an investigative judge, trial judge, appeals judge and judge in juvenile cases, and was associated with the Law Faculty in Split.

In 2005, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General and at the same time Contact Point for Eurojust in Croatia. From 2006 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2015, Mr Čule was President of the State Attorney Council, a specialised body responsible for disciplinary measures and the appointment of prosecutors. From 2008 to 2014, within the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia, he was Head of the International Legal Assistance and Cooperation Unit. From 2009 to 2013, he was Liaison Prosecutor for Croatia at Eurojust.

Other professional engagements and memberships of Mr Čule:

  • Since 2006, Representative of the Republic of Croatia at the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCEP)
  • Since 2010, Vice-President of the Croatian Association for European Criminal Law
  • Since 2013, Member of the Executive Committee, International Association of Prosecutors (IAP)
  • Since 2018, Vice-President of the Executive Committee, International Association of Prosecutors (IAP)

 

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Casework

  2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
New cases (total)
- of which initiating
- of which participating
76
12
64
130
48
82
166
75
91
144
50
94
144
50
94
146
53
93
Coordination meetings (initiating and/or participating) 5 3 7 2 2 4
Coordination centres (organising and/or participating) - - 1 - 1 2
Joint investigation teams (newly signed and/or ongoing) - - - - - -

Case examples

45 arrests in crackdown on Albanian-speaking criminals flooding Europe with cocaine

Crime: The suspects import cocaine from Latin America to various European ports, organising transport via planes, vessels, cars and lorries. The high-level criminal network runs the wholesale trade of the drugs and sets up a string of enterprises to launder the profits in various countries, including Spain and Croatia. Its members travel regularly to Dubai, Mexico and Colombia to arrange their illegal business and use encrypted communication tools to coordinate activities.

Action: During an action day supported by Eurojust and Europol, over 600 law enforcement officers in close cooperation with prosecutors and investigative officers carry out raids against the members of the criminal network. Over 80 places are searched in Spain and Belgium, and 45 suspects are arrested. These include a number of high-value targets, investigated in multiple high-profile cases in different jurisdictions. Parallel actions also take place in Croatia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Result: As a result of the international operation involving judicial and law enforcement authorities in seven countries, one of Europe's most active Albanian-speaking cocaine trafficking networks is dismantled.

Eurojust's Role: The Agency sets up a coordination centre to enable rapid cooperation between the judicial authorities involved in the action day. Eurojust and Europol support a JIT set up between Belgium and Spain in 2021.

Flags of BE, ES, HR, DE, IT, NL, Europol, Eurojust logos

Documents

22 June 2023|DOCUMENT
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20 December 2021|DOCUMENT
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15 February 2021|DOCUMENT
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