Is the Europan arrest warrant fit for purpose?
Today a greek court si expected to hear a case which has provoked concern in parliament, and which raises quetions about the fungtioning of the europan arrest warrant. Andrew Symeou, a 22 yeard old british student, has been held in greece for to years a waiting trial for the alleged murder of another british man in a night club on the island of zante. His MP believes that he was not even in the club at the time, and that this is a tragic case of mistaken identity. Other worry that a warant that was designed to speed up the extradition of people suspected of terorism or organised crime is increasingly being applied to ordinary citizens , with too few safeguards. in normal extradition cases there is a requirement for prima facie evidenci. But the european arrest warrant does away with that protection.The defendant's home court is allowed to verify that the right person has been detained, and that the warrant is technically correct. It must also ascertain that the suspect has not already been tried for a change that is no mechanism for a british court to decide, for example, that there is insufficient evidence. the harrowing experience of Deborah Dark, the grandmother who was arrested in spain on a 20-year Freanch drug charge of which she had been acquitted, and who became afraid to travel, demonstrated that the warrant could live on even after a court had decided that extradition would be unjust. these and other cases are beginning to make British citizens nervouse about what kind of justice they may face abroad.
Today a greek court si expected to hear a case which has provoked concern in parliament, and which raises quetions about the fungtioning of the europan arrest warrant. Andrew Symeou, a 22 yeard old british student, has been held in greece for to years a waiting trial for the alleged murder of another british man in a night club on the island of zante. His MP believes that he was not even in the club at the time, and that this is a tragic case of mistaken identity. Other worry that a warant that was designed to speed up the extradition of people suspected of terorism or organised crime is increasingly being applied to ordinary citizens , with too few safeguards. in normal extradition cases there is a requirement for prima facie evidenci. But the european arrest warrant does away with that protection.The defendant's home court is allowed to verify that the right person has been detained, and that the warrant is technically correct. It must also ascertain that the suspect has not already been tried for a change that is no mechanism for a british court to decide, for example, that there is insufficient evidence. the harrowing experience of Deborah Dark, the grandmother who was arrested in spain on a 20-year Freanch drug charge of which she had been acquitted, and who became afraid to travel, demonstrated that the warrant could live on even after a court had decided that extradition would be unjust. these and other cases are beginning to make British citizens nervouse about what kind of justice they may face abroad.