Success Stories

Extradition Appeal Allowed

By Fiona Haddadeen  |  12.03.2021

We represented our client in his appeal against his extradition to Bulgaria for a murder allegation dating back to 1999.

Our client was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in October 2017 and has been remanded in custody at HMP Wandsworth ever since. We raised three grounds of appeal, including an argument regarding the validity of the warrant.

The Court of Justice for the European Union recently ruled that European Arrest Warrants issued by public prosecutors, based on domestic warrants which had also been issued by a public prosecutor pursuant to the Bulgarian Criminal Procedure Code, did not meet ‘the requirements inherent in the effective judicial protection that must be afforded to a person who is the subject of a European Arrest Warrant for the purpose of criminal prosecution’.

The European Arrest Warrant and the Decree upon which the warrant was based ‘for the detention of the person for a period of 72 hours on the grounds of article 64, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code’ were both issued by the public prosecutor. The EAW was therefore invalid. As such, our client’s appeal was allowed, the order for his extradition was quashed and our client was discharged from the EAW.

Fiona Haddadeen prepared this case and Mark Summers QC and Florence Iveson of Matrix Chambers were instructed Counsel.

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