The Danube River: an emerging regional bond

The Legal Limbo of Counter-Terrorism Criminal Law and Armed Conflict Anti-Regime and Anti-IS (Foreign) Fighters Before European Courts

“…9 The difficulties in obtaining a legal terminological grip on terrorism are essentially due to the strong political dimension of the term. 10 In public discourse, "terrorism" is not used in a criminal or criminological sense, but as a political "term of exclusion": 11 It is used to stigmatize (political) opponents as terrorists on account of their actions or goals; once this is achieved, their causes are delegitimized and declared as non-negotiable. 12 The political dimension of the concept of terrorism has an impact on the legal definition, and, therefore, some argue, it is impossible to define terrorism as a legal term.…”

“…14 The link between the short-term and the long-term goal usually consists of the aim of destabilizing the existing social and/or state order in order to ultimately replace it with another. 15 This rudimentary definition of terrorism is traditionally tailored to the circumstances found in democratic constitutional states. 16 However, much debate surrounds the question of how to deal with violence that is used in an attempt to defend the population against a tyrannical or dictatorial regime that violates human rights and/or commits crimes under international law.…”

“…The number of times consent for prosecution has been given by the Attorney General has increased steadily in recent years. Such consent was given in 2013 in respect of 10 legislation includes a wide range of (preparatory) acts with a terrorist aim within the preliminary stages of a punishable attempted act or the agreement to commit an act and, on the other hand, to the severe sentencing framework with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. 135 Moreover, the provision is not restricted to members of officially prohibited terrorist groups.…”