ANNEX 3 CONVICTIONS AND PENALTIES (EUROJUST)

This annex contains statistical information on the concluded court proceedings for terrorist offences in 2016, as reported to Eurojust. It highlights some key figures and, where relevant, compares those with the figures for previous years. The key figures are supplemented by further details and clarifications, as needed.

• In 2016, 17 EU Member States reported to have concluded a total of 275 court proceedings in relation to terrorism.
• The concluded court proceedings concerned 580 individuals. Seven of those individuals appeared before 1 the court more than once in 2016 in the framework of different criminal proceedings i . As a result, the total number of verdicts pronounced for terrorism-related offences in 2016 was 587.

In Spain, three individuals appeared before the court twice in 2016 in the framework of different criminal proceedings. In Belgium, the cases against two individuals were annulled on the basis of the ne bis in idem principle, as the court ruled the two had been convicted of the same facts earlier in 2015 and 2016. In France, two individuals appeared before the juvenile court and the criminal court.

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• In 2016 there were 53 female defendants in the concluded court proceedings for terrorist offences.
• In 2016, Spain reported the highest number of concluded court proceedings and the highest number of individuals convicted or acquitted of terrorist offences.
• The vast majority of verdicts in the Member States in 2016 were pronounced in relation to jihadist terrorism. Similar to 2015, courts in Belgium rendered the highest number of verdicts concerning jihadist terrorism in 2016 (138).

• All verdicts pronounced in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and Sweden in 2016 related to jihadist terrorism. A large number of such verdicts were also rendered in Germany and the Netherlands. The Spanish courts dealt with the highest number of separatist terrorism cases in the EU in 2016. Individuals charged with offences related to separatist terrorist groups were also tried in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Greece was the only Member State that reported verdicts for left-wing terrorist offences, while courts in Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain also tried right-wing terrorism cases.
• The highest number of female defendants in the concluded proceedings in 2016 were tried for separatist terrorist offences (22) and for jihadist terrorist offences (also 22).
• The average prison sentence for left-wing terrorist offences was the highest, increasing from 12 years in 2015 to 28 years in 2016. Jihadist and separatist terrorist offences were punished with an average prison sentence of 5 years, and right-wing terrorist offences with 4 years.

• In 2016, Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece and Hungary reported successful prosecutions resulting in no acquittals for terrorist offences.
• Germany remains the only Member State where prosecutions for terrorist offences led to guilty verdicts and no acquittals in the period 2010-2016 i

  Eurojust considers it one verdict if an individual is convicted of more than one terrorist offence within the same proceeding, or convicted of a terrorist offence and acquitted of another offence. If an individual is acquitted of a terrorist offence and convicted of another offence, the verdict is included in the overview as acquittal of terrorism.

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• The year 2016 registered a record high conviction rate in concluded court proceedings (89%). The acquittal rate of 11% is significantly lower than those in 2015 (21%) and in 2014 (24%) and continues the downward trend compared to the years before.

All prosecutions for left-wing and right-wing terrorist offences resulted in convictions in 2016. Also the concluded jihadist terrorism cases had a very high conviction rate (92%), similar to that in 2015 (94%) i . The acquittal rate among the verdicts related to separatist terrorism decreased significantly in 2016 (18%), compared to 2015 (47%).