JFH Crime secures the discharge of Romanian EAW
Extradition victory
Solicitor John Howey has secured the discharge of a Romanian client who was facing extradition under EAW (European Arrest Warrant). on the grounds that his extradition would breach his Article 3 Human Rights. This is the result of the High Court decision in Grecu and others.
In that case, the Court followed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Muršic v Croatia, where the ECtHR ruled that every person extradited must be guaranteed at least 3 sq meters of cell space. Previously, the High Court had drawn a distinction between prisoners held in closed conditions, which required 3 sq meters, and prisoners held in open or semi-open conditions, where anything over 2 sq meters was held to be sufficient.
The Romanian authorities have, in a number of cases, provided assurances that persons extradited to Romania would be guaranteed 3 sq meters in both open/semi-open and closed conditions. In our case, the Romanian authorities were only able to guarantee 2 sq meters, because of the part of the country our client is from and the prison conditions in that part of the country.
EAW; are prison conditions settled in Romania?
The conclusion we can draw from this is that the prison conditions issue is far from settled. Longer term prisoners will continue to be held in closed conditions, where 3 sq meters appears to be routinely guaranteed. Whether or not the Romanian authorities can guarantee short-term prisoners adequate cell space will depend on the part of the country they are from, which dictates where they would serve their sentence.
Please contact us on 0207 388 1658, or email jhowey@jfhlaw.co.uk if you wish to discuss your extradition matter with us further, or to find out whether you would be eligible for legal aid for extradition matters. We have a dedicated team of lawyers specialising in extradition who are here to help you.
John Howey, Senior Solicitor
