In a judgment delivered on Tuesday 18 April (Case C-699/21), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the competent authority of an EU Member State may refuse to execute a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) if there is a risk of endangering the life of the wanted person after his or her surrender in the issuing country.
The Italian Constitutional Court has asked the Court to rule on how to prevent the risk of serious damage to the health of a person who is the subject of a European arrest warrant issued in Croatia, but whose surrender to the Croatian justice system could halt his or her medical and psychotherapeutic treatment and entails a significant risk of suicide in the event of imprisonment. The Italian legislation transposing the framework decision (2022/584) establishing the EAW does not provide for the possibility of refusing the surrender of a wanted person on health grounds.
In its judgment, the Court highlights that judicial cooperation in criminal matters is based on the principles of mutual trust and recognition between Member States. Any exception to the execution of an EAW must therefore be interpreted strictly.
However, according to the European Court, where there are objective reasons to consider that the surrender of a person would endanger his or her health, the executing authority of an EAW may exceptionally temporarily postpone the surrender of a wanted person. It assesses this risk in the light of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’ prohibition of inhuman treatment, the severity of which must exceed the unavoidable suffering inherent in prison detention.
The executing authority must request from the issuing authority any information relating to the conditions of detention to which the person will be subjected once surrendered. If the serious health risk can be ruled out by the guarantees provided, the EAW must be executed. A later surrender date may also be agreed, if a reasonable period of time is necessary to remove the serious risk to the health of the wanted person.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/6dd (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)