“The confiscation of assets acquired through criminal activity must become the rule, not the exception,” was the central conclusion of a panel discussion on the judicial response to organised crime, held as part of the 23rd Annual Conference on Criminal Law in Neum.
The panel convened over 50 judges, prosecutors, and judicial advisors from across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event was jointly organised by the AIRE Centre, the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Federal Agency for the Management of Seized Assets, and CPRC.
The panel featured the presentation of the AIRE Centre’s recent findings on the practice of confiscating assets derived from criminal offences. This marks the first comprehensive review of prosecutorial practice in high-level corruption and organised crime cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aimed at enhancing financial investigations and strengthening the effective recovery of unlawfully obtained assets. Real-life court cases from across the country were analysed, with a clear message emerging: despite growing prosecutorial expertise in handling complex cases, assets acquired through crime far too often remain in the possession of offenders.
Zlatko Knežević, AIRE Centre consultant and retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasised: “The key objective of criminal proceedings—beyond sanctioning the offender—is to deprive them of illicit gain. To ignore that dimension is to send a message of impunity.” He added that institutions must significantly bolster their financial and forensic investigation capacities in order to respond to the complexity of modern criminality. “Confiscation is not the responsibility of an individual prosecutor—the entire system must operate in unison.”
Hanadi Karić, Deputy Director of the Federal Agency for the Management of Seized Assets, underlined that the primary motive behind criminal activity is profit. “By seizing illicit profit, we send a clear message: crime does not pay,” Karić stated. She also highlighted the potential for socially beneficial use of confiscated property. “Our Agency manages dozens of residential properties, and our goal is to put them to good use—for example, to provide accommodation for parents of children undergoing medical treatment, or to support institutions such as SOS Children’s Villages. This demonstrates that confiscated property can be returned to the community and used to save lives.”
Martina Raguž, Project Manager at the AIRE Centre, reiterated the critical role of international cooperation in tackling transnational crime. “The AIRE Centre will continue to address this challenge by providing expertise and building institutional capacity to respond effectively to complex threats, including the misuse of AI technologies, cryptocurrencies, and cybercrime.”
Engaging with this issue strengthens the rule of law, safeguards the public interest, and combats impunity—principles at the very heart of the AIRE Centre’s mission.
