Brussels, 29/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The judicial authorities responsible for executing arrest warrants cannot refuse to execute a European arrest warrant issued at the end of criminal proceedings if the person pursued has not being given a hearing in the member state where the warrant was issued for the granting of the warrant in question. This is the gist of the decision made on Tuesday 29 January by the European Court of Justice (case C-396/11) in response to the Constantia Appeals Court (Romania), which asked it about European arrest warrant execution and surrender conditions between member states.
In the case being heard, a Romanian national pursued by default in Germany for robbery with violence, is contesting the execution of European arrest warrant by Romania and issued by Germany against him, arguing that he cannot be surrendered to the German authorities for three reasons: - on the date of the framework decision's adoption on the European arrest warrant in 2002, the EU treaty did not clearly include rights conferred by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and included in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; - European legislation had transposed this framework decision but had been annulled before a new law could be adopted, although the execution of a European arrest warrant is subject to a reciprocity condition; - the Romanian authorities must verify whether the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter and the ECHR are respected in Germany and, if this is not the case, they can refuse to execute the European arrest warrant, even if the reason of non-execution is not clearly included in the framework decision. The interested party argued that the European arrest warrant as had been issued without his being given a preliminary hearing by the German authorities was in violation of the ECHR.
The ECJ rejects these objections. It decided that the violation of defence rights during a process that has led to a prison sentence by default can, in certain conditions, constitute a reason for the non-execution of a European arrest warrant when the latter is issued to execute a prison sentence. Nonetheless, when, as in this case, the warrant is issued as part of criminal proceedings, notwithstanding that the person pursued has not been given a hearing by the authorities responsible for issuing a warrant, it must be executed. In effect, compelling the legal authorities responsible for issuing a warrant to provide the pursued suspect with a hearing even before the arrest warrant has been delivered, would make the mechanism inefficient and remove the necessary surprise required to prevent the person concerned taking flight. The Court also provided assurances that respect for the law to be heard in a member state where the warrant is executed would not compromise the effectiveness of the warrant. (FG/transl.fl)