Chaotic European Arrest Warrant Legal Situation
The British Justice Minister, Jack Straw, has recently been given the right by a British court to pardon a man convicted of a crime in another EU country. Having been transferred from Bulgaria, where the alleged crime was committed, the verdict will be quashed, and the man walk out of jail free and innocent.
Meanwhile, the EU continues to press for the full implementation of its criminal justice programme, including the European Arrest Warrant introduced three years ago.
This allows for the extradition of suspects from one EU country to another without the presentation or examination of any justifying evidence by a court in the suspect’s home country, and totally against the rule of law in the UK. Habeas Corpus has protected all British subjects for centuries from the power of the state by demanding disclosure of evidence within three days of arrest, without which the accused must be let free.
Under the EAW, suspects can be held up to 90 days before extradition, and without knowing the accusation against them, let alone being able to respond to it before a British court.
What is worse is the threat of extradition from the UK to face a trial in a foreign country for something that is not a crime in the UK – for example, Holocaust denial.
All of which becomes a mockery if a British court can later quash the conviction, let alone commute the sentence.
The British Justice Minister, Jack Straw, has recently been given the right by a British court to pardon a man convicted of a crime in another EU country. Having been transferred from Bulgaria, where the alleged crime was committed, the verdict will be quashed, and the man walk out of jail free and innocent.
Meanwhile, the EU continues to press for the full implementation of its criminal justice programme, including the European Arrest Warrant introduced three years ago.
This allows for the extradition of suspects from one EU country to another without the presentation or examination of any justifying evidence by a court in the suspect’s home country, and totally against the rule of law in the UK. Habeas Corpus has protected all British subjects for centuries from the power of the state by demanding disclosure of evidence within three days of arrest, without which the accused must be let free.
Under the EAW, suspects can be held up to 90 days before extradition, and without knowing the accusation against them, let alone being able to respond to it before a British court.
What is worse is the threat of extradition from the UK to face a trial in a foreign country for something that is not a crime in the UK – for example, Holocaust denial.
All of which becomes a mockery if a British court can later quash the conviction, let alone commute the sentence.
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