The Sport Division is deeply saddened by the late passing of Eric Bisschop, Deputy Federal Prosecutor of Belgium, and a key driving force behind the creation of the MARS (Magistrates/Prosecutors Responsible for Sport) network.

A prosecutor of action, a remarkable man, a charismatic leader, and a true inspiration, he will be missed for his knowledge, pragmatism and anecdotes.

The Council of Europe is grateful to Eric Bisschop for his relentless and intense efforts in the fight against the manipulation of sports competitions and will build on his legacy to pursue his vision.

The Sport Division will continue this international work to protect sport from criminal activity, in line with Eric Bisschop’s vision of a Pan-European network of prosecutors and magistrates united for a clean, safe and fair sport.

Posthumous publication of the interview of Eric Bisschop to the French national platform, Deputy Federal Prosecutor of the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office, Head of the Unit for the fight against organised crime (23 January 2023).

Can you introduce the MARS network (Magistrates Responsible for Sport)?

MARS is a network that was created in November 2022 by the Council of Europe and that will be formalised at an official meeting in the coming months.

It is currently composed of prosecutors from over 25 countries. MARS also has links with the police through the contribution of Interpol and Europol as observers.

And several other countries are expected to join.

Such a network is an absolute necessity, for several reasons, among them:

• It stimulates a process of awareness raising beyond national borders. Indeed, the fight against fraud in sport is not always given the priority it should have.
• Expertise is often lacking, and prosecutors are not sufficiently familiar with conducting criminal investigations in this area. Local knowledge is needed, both with regard to gambling and non-gambling related fraud.
• Many stakeholders operate in organised contexts, be it investigative journalists, gambling companies and, of course, sports federations, whereas this is not the case for prosecutors at all. This is a gap that needs to be filled.

What are the priority actions to be implemented?

First of all, prosecutors need to be informed about the cases dealt with in the different countries, the current trends, the results achieved and the resulting societal impact.

This information should be limited to general trends and public information, which nevertheless provides a picture of the evolution of the problems. In a highly globalised subject, this broad view is particularly enriching.

Similarly, mutual trust between different prosecutors should be built up, which would strengthen any future cooperation, without prejudice to the formal mechanisms and treaties that already play a role in this respect in the context of customary international cooperation in judicial matters. Given the different legal systems, knowledge of the possibilities at international level is an absolute added value for conducting a thorough investigation.

In this way, the network can become a centre of expertise and a think tank to reflect on common problems in the fight against sports fraud at national level and across national borders.

At the operational level, how do you think national platforms should function?

Ideally, government agencies, sports federations, the police and the judiciary come together in the operation of these platforms.

At the operational level, the platform reduces the distance between the sports federations on the one hand, and the police and the judiciary on the other. In this way, the police/judiciary can detect at an early-stage certain signals that merit further examination and may justify the launching of certain investigations. To this end, it is desirable that an ad hoc consultation be initiated with the relevant sports federations.