Special evidence-gathering procedures in Serbia: Criminal procedure regulation and practical application

In the last several decades, the world has experienced an escalation of organized crime, such as firearms and drug trafficking. Terrorism and migrant trafficking in particular have reached alarming levels in recent years. United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, 2000) is a main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime. By ratifying the Convention, States parties have a legal basis to adopt a series of crime-control measures and implement special investigation procedures in their domestic legal order, in order to successfully combat organized crime. While fighting the ever more complex forms of organized crime, the international community and individual countries find that the implementation of special investigation techniques (or special evidence-gathering procedures, as they are called in Serbia) is often the only effective solution. This paper will discuss the most important aspects of their implementation in the fight against organized crime.