Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.54070/hljk.31.2.4
Migrant Smuggling: A Criminal Offence Referred to in Article 326 of the Criminal Code According to the Practice of the Judicial Authorities of Karlovac
Nikolina Masar
orcid.org/0009-0000-6456-6845
; Općinsko državno odvjetništvo u Karlovcu, Hrvatska
*
Jasmina Štrucelj
; Općinski sud u Karlovcu, Hrvatska
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Migrant smuggling in Europe takes place through several routes, and in recent years the pressure has been on the Western Balkan route, which extends through Karlovac County, and has been particularly affected by the increased numbers of illegal migrants and migrant smugglers. Due to the greater pressure of illegal migrants on the border, the activities of police officers assigned to border surveillance tasks, as well as of police officers who carry out criminal investigations against arrested perpetrators, have also increased. As a result, pressure has also risen on state attorneys’ offices and county courts that decide on requests and proposals submitted by the state attorney’s office during the pre-trial proceeding, as well as on the municipal courts that handle the cases after the filing of the indictment. In the light of the above, the paper presents the material and procedural specifics of the criminal offence of Unlawful Entry, Movement or Residence in the Republic of Croatia, Another Member State of the European Union or a Signatory to the Schengen Agreement referred to in Article 326 of the Criminal Code, along with the specific details that appear in pre-trial criminal proceedings and in the proceedings before the municipal court, after the indictment is filed, along with the problems and challenges encountered in practice and the issues regarding the criminal offence under Article 326 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code. A review of criminal law policy and a presentation of relevant statistical data at different stages of the proceedings are also given. In regard to the methodology of this paper, it is a result of the authors’ longtime work on a large number of cases in this specific type of criminality in pre-trial proceedings and proceedings before the court, the result of studying case law and using available data relating to this criminal offence, in order to reflect on and present practical solutions to certain problems encountered by state attorneys and judges.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
328343
URI
Publication date:
4.12.2024.
Visits: 3.752 *