Beyond the shadow of a doubt The prosecution of terrorism financing in European courts

Twenty years after 9/11, policies to control and disrupt the financial sources of terrorist organizations are considered a key aspect of combatting terrorist organizations. To prevent and deter support for terrorist activities, EU countries are obliged by law to criminalize and prosecute those who engage in financing terrorist organizations and/or individuals. Financing terrorism as defined under international law, however, is a broad offence, criminalizing a range of activities such as fundraising, donating, and transferring. Furthermore, a court conviction is not dependent on the actual use of the money, but on whether the sender accepted the reasonable chance that the money might be used for terrorist activities. This pre-emptive and broad formulation of the law therefore raises the question how courts make the distinction between mundane financial transactions and terrorism financing. This dissertation focusses on how the investigation and prosecution of terrorism financing is done in practice. Adopting this practice-approach, I collected empirical data by observing court cases in four European countries, conducting interviews with legal professionals and document analysis. In my dissertation I show that what counts as terrorism financing, is often not straight-forward but the outcome of fierce debates on new materials that are presented for the court, judges deliberating on admissible security expertise, definitions of terrorism, geopolitical knowledge on complex war zones, and even contestations about the fundamental purpose of the law. My research therefore concludes that prosecuting terrorism financing is a complex and interdisciplinary practice and illustrates the multiplicity of legal definitions and arguments.