Ms Kolbrún Benediktsdóttir has today started as the first Liaison Prosecutor for Iceland at Eurojust. The seconding of a Liaison Prosecutor is the direct result of a Cooperation Agreement signed by the Icelandic authorities and Eurojust in 2005. With the arrival of Ms Benediktsdóttir, twelve countries* now have Liaison Prosecutors at Eurojust. Liaison Prosecutors of third countries can open requests for cross-border judicial cooperation with authorities of EU Member States and vice versa.
Marking the start of her mandate of three and a half years at Eurojust, Ms Kolbrún Benediktsdóttir stated: ‘I´m honoured and excited to join Eurojust as the first Liaison Prosecutor from Iceland. It is a very important step for Iceland and I´m sure that it will prove to be essential when it comes to prosecuting cross-border and organised crimes.’
From 2016 until her seconding to Eurojust, Ms Benediktsdóttir worked as Deputy District Prosecutor. In this capacity, she was in charge of the department dealing with police corruption, and a member of Nordic and European cooperation in the same field. Furthermore, she was the administrator for the department for violent crimes, sexual offences, and drug and human trafficking. Between 2006 and 2015, she served as prosecutor in the office of the Director of Public Prosecution.
From 2006 until today, Ms Benediktsdóttir was also a teacher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland. From 2013 onwards, she served as substitute judge in the Labour Court of Iceland, and in 2022 became a member of the Minister of Justice’s Permanent Committee on Procedural Law. She graduated in law from the University of Law in 2005 and undertook her bar exam for the Iceland District Courts in 2008.
*The following other third countries have Liaison Prosecutors at Eurojust: Albania, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union