Justice Archives

France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegal campaign financing by the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday (14 February), and given a one-year prison sentence.

Belgian socialist MEP Marie Arena, whose Brussels home was searched last July as part of the European parliament "Qatargate" bribery scandal, was questioned by investigators Friday (9 February), according to her lawyer.

An audio recording from May 2023 made public on Monday (5 February) suggests that the so-called Qatargate court case, centered on allegations that Qatar and Morocco bought influence bribing MEPs, risks being derailed due to procedural defects.

French Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti addressed the senate's women's rights delegation on Thursday (1 February) taking the opportunity to clarify France's refusal to include rape in an EU directive.

The Bulgarian counterintelligence agency SANS has been accused of failing to act on reports by a high-ranking local politician of a potential channel that allows Russian spies to infiltrate Europe by getting  Bulgarian citizenship thanks to false documents.

Italian police said on Thursday (25 January) they had dismantled a tax fraud network worth €1.7 billion involving Italian and Chinese suspects using over 100 shell companies in the country's north.

Drug smugglers in the EU have become so "very creative" that the bloc's seaports should join forces to combat their
ever-changing tactics, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told AFP.

European Union justice commissioner Didier Reynders on Friday (19 January) applauded Poland's new government for efforts to restore the rule of law, which he said could lead Brussels to unblock frozen EU funds.

European nations including France should stop sending refugees from the North Caucasus back to Russia as they risk being tortured or being forced to fight in Ukraine, Amnesty International said on Thursday (18 January).

Most political groups in the European Parliament want a probe into the European Commission's decision to unfreeze EU funds for Hungary, followed by a lawsuit in the EU's top court and a possible motion of censure, while also urging the Council to strip Hungary's voting rights over its rule of law deficiencies.

Italy's hard right government is scrapping the crime of abuse of office, setting Rome on a collision course with Brussels over a law supporters say is essential to fighting corruption.

A 24-year-old Czech student shot dead his father, then killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at his Prague university on Thursday (21 December) before possibly killing himself, police said, marking the country's worst-ever mass shooting.

Ireland announced legal action Wednesday (20 December) against the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights over a law granting immunity to combatants in the Northern Ireland conflict.

Several Moroccan officials have been questioned as part of a high-profile investigation into alleged bribery by the north African state and Qatar at the European Parliament, Belgian prosecutors said Saturday (16 December).

Bulgaria has met the conditions to join Europe's passport-free Schengen area by strengthening its borders and efforts to combat illegal migration, the Netherlands said Friday (15 December), as Sofia took one step closer to joining.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov acknowledged on Thursday (14 December) that Budapest had warned his country it would veto its Schengen accession unless Sofia lifted a tax that made it more expensive for Hungary to import Russian gas via Bulgarian territory.

The EU released €10.2 billion of funding for Hungary on Wednesday (13 December), the eve of a summit on support for Ukraine that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has threatened to derail.

France's interior minister Wednesday (13 December) vowed to do "everything" to prevent an Uzbek citizen returning to France despite top French and European courts ruling against his expulsion.

The European Parliament and EU member states agreed on Wednesday (13 December) to establish a central body to clamp down on money laundering as well as attempts to circumvent sanctions.

Slovakia's president said on Friday (8 December) she would likely veto the government's planned fast-track changes to criminal law that include scrapping a special prosecutor's office that has focused on corruption, saying the plan needed proper debate.

French prosecutors on Friday (8 December) ordered far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen to stand trial over claims she used EU funds to finance party activities in France.

The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday (6 December) a set of measures and recommendations across policy areas to tackle hate crimes across Europe, especially against Jewish and Muslim communities - but some say it may fall short. 

A year after a bribery scandal dubbed "Qatargate" engulfed the European Parliament, Belgium's investigation into the alleged wrongdoing of certain lawmakers and aides still seems far from resolution.

Experts from the United States have arrived in Cyprus to help police investigate cases where Russian oligarchs were allegedly enabled to bypass sanctions, a Cypriot official said Monday (4 November).