Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

According to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, Serbian police did not arrest anyone
involved in terrorist finance activities, nor were any cases related to the financing of terrorism
prosecuted in 2012. For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer
you to the 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money
Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.
Regional and International Cooperation: Serbia supports the UN Global Counter-Terrorism
Strategy. In October, members of special police units from 14 Southeast European countries
completed a counterterrorism exercise at the Special Anti-Terrorism base near Belgrade. The
exercise was carried out as part of an international counterterrorism seminar, which featured
lectures by two U.S. instructors from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Hostage Rescue Team.
The Office of Defense Cooperation provided approximately US $128,000 worth of
counterterrorism-related training for 17 representatives of the Ministry of Defense (MOD),
Ministry of Interior, the Security Information Agency, and the National Assembly at the George
C. Marshall Center and at the National Defense University (NDU). Two MOD graduates of the
NDU's International Counterterrorism Fellows (ICTF) Program attended an NDU Alumni
Seminar in April. This close and continuing collaboration supports individual ICTF graduates as
they move up to more senior levels of responsibility with the goal of increasing their
effectiveness in joint counterterrorism efforts. Two MOD lieutenant colonels completed the
International Intelligence Fellows Program (IIFP) at the National Defense Intelligence College
(Defense Intelligence Agency) in late April. The theme of the IIFP this year was "Intelligence
Support to Combating Terrorism.”
SPAIN
Overview: Spain continued to confront the threat posed by the domestic terrorist group Basque
Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), as well as the transnational threat from al-Qa'ida (AQ) and its
affiliates. With sustained focused international cooperation, in particular with France, Spain
enjoyed such success in countering ETA that the weakened terrorist group announced in October
2011 a “definitive cessation of armed activity,” re-confirmed by ETA in a July 9, 2012
communiqué.
Europol’s annual terrorism report on the EU, released in April and supported by Spanish security
services, indicated however, that “ETA continues recruiting members and collecting information
about new objectives,” despite having announced the cessation of violence. According to the
report, “ETA has not announced either the turning over of the weapons or the dissolution of the
terrorist organization. The experience obtained from previous ceasefires indicates that ETA
returns to its activity because it does not achieve its political objectives.” According to the report,
ETA appears to have ceased its practice of extortion of local businesses, although there are
reports of “personal visits, door to door” looking for “voluntary” contributions.
Spain also focused on the continued kidnapping threat presented by al-Qa'ida in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM) and increased its cooperation with Algeria, Mali, and Mauritania to combat
and contain the group. Spain cooperated closely with the United States to counter terrorism and
was a cooperative partner in joint investigations and information sharing.
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