December 7 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Specialized Prosecution Office (SPO) was elected to head the Secretariat of the Permanent Conference of Organized Crime Prosecutors (PCOCP), an international organization supported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The decision was made by an open ballot during an online meeting of representatives of the countries participating in the international organization, the SPO reported on Tuesday.

The PCOCP was set up in Belgrade on May 27, 2016. Its mission is to promote international cooperation in the fight against organized crime, ensure timely communication among the participating countries in keeping with their legal systems, facilitate cooperation based on legal assistance requests, and maintain direct contact between prosecutorial institutions.

The organization was founded by Italy's Antimafia Investigation Directorate, the specialized prosecution services of Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia, the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime in Croatia, the prosecution services of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Hungary, and the National Anticorruption Directorate of Romania. Greece became the 12th member of the organization. The Austrian prosecuting magistracy has expressed a desire to participate as well.

The Bulgarian prosecution service is the second one after that of Serbia to head the PCOCP. /RY/VE

Source: Sofia