U.S. prosecutors sent to Balkans "to help fight terrorism"

Source: Beta, AFP

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is sending dozens of prosecutors to the Balkans, the Middle East, and northern Africa "to help track down jihadist fighters returning from Syria."

(Beta/AP, file)

Prosecutors and senior law enforcement advisors were being dispatched to “key regions,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said after meeting with European officials in Washington, AFP reported.
“These personnel will provide critical assistance to our allies in order to help prosecute those who return from the Syrian region bent on committing acts of terrorism," he said, and added that "the cooperation includes information sharing, investigations and prosecutions, and countering violent extremism.”

The French agency quoted a senior U.S. Justice Department official as saying that about 70 prosecutors were working in several countries including "Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia," as well as in North Africa and the Middle East.

“They’re not there to put a U.S. legal system in place. Their goal is to ensure that the country has in place statutes that are consistent with the UN counter-terrorism convention, with the global terrorism forum best practices," said the official.

A regional prosecutor specializing in anti-terrorism will be based in Albania to coordinate work in the Balkans and the director of the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law has moved to Malta, AFP reported.