Success Stories

Extradition to Latvia Refused

By Fiona Haddadeen  |  08.04.2021

Our client’s extradition was sought pursuant to a conviction European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Latvia to serve a sentence of two years for a series of thefts and attempted thefts committed between 2004-2006.

In 2005, our client received in Latvia a suspended sentence of 1 year and 6 months in respect of theft related offences committed in 2004, when he was aged 17. He was then arrested in 2006 in respect of further offences committed earlier that year, when he was 18. Following his conviction, he was sentenced to two years immediate custody.

We argued that the extradition of our client would amount to a disproportionate interference with his rights as under Article 8 ECHR. Our client has lived and worked in the UK for almost 12 years with his wife and two young children. We argued that his separation from his family would in all likelihood be indeterminate, since he has been unable to apply for settled status.

This District Judge accepted our submissions that in addition to the age of the offences and their relative lack of severity, there had been conspicuous delay in the Latvian authorities seeking extradition. The detrimental impact of extradition on our client’s wife and their small children would be immense and is increased by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. As such, the District Judge upheld our argument and our client was discharged from the extradition proceedings.

This is an excellent outcome for our client and his young family who risked losing both their father and their home. As this was a privately funded case, the court granted a defence costs order.

Fiona Haddadeen prepared this case and Juliet Wells of Temple Garden Chambers was instructed counsel.

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