The Advocate General, Campos Sánchez-Bordona, stated, in his Opinion to the Court of Justice of the EU on Thursday 1 December (Case C-699/21), that a serious risk to the health of a person whose surrender is requested may justify the postponement of a European arrest warrant, but not the refusal, with no further justification, to execute it.
In September 2019, the Municipal Court of the Croatian city of Zadar had issued a European arrest warrant for an Italian resident, accused of holding drugs on Croatian territory with the aim of reselling them. However, an expert report had indicated that the defendant was suffering from psychotic disorders and that there was a significant risk of suicide due to his potential incarceration.
The Italian Constitutional Court had asked the European Court whether it could refuse to execute a European arrest warrant on health grounds.
In this situation, the Advocate General said, it would be necessary to verify the existence of “systemic and generalised failures” in the issuing Member State which expose the person whose surrender is requested “to conditions involving inhuman and degrading detention”.
Since this is not the case, the Advocate General recommends that the authorities concerned communicate with each other and check whether the person whose surrender is requested will be guaranteed the medical care he or she may need in the Member State issuing the warrant.
In case of non-compliance, the executing authority could temporarily postpone the execution of the warrant. However, it should be executed as soon as the reasons for its postponement cease to exist.
See the conclusions (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/4et (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)