Mr Justice McGrath delivered judgment in the High Court on 7 February 2025 on an application made by the Minister for Justice (the “Applicant”) against Cerban Dumitri (the “Respondent”). The Applicant sought an order for surrender of the respondent to the United Kingdom on foot of a Trade and Co-Operation Agreement Warrant (“TCAW”) in October 2024. The Respondent was convicted of 10 offences contrary to the Sexual Offences Act and sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for each offence.
The submission of the Respondent is that if he is surrendered to the UK, there is a real risk that, having regard to the conditions in that state, that he would suffer inhuman and degrading treatment and/or his right to bodily integrity and privacy would be breached. It is therefore submitted that his surrender in relation to these offences is prohibited by Section 37 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 as it would be a breach of his constitutional rights and the States obligations under the European Courts of Human Rights (“ECHR”).
As the UK is no longer a part of the EU, the usual two-stage test that applies under the European Union (“EU”) Framework Decision when determining if there would be a breach of fundamental rights could not be adopted in this case. Instead, a one-step test applied whereby, a surrender could not be ordered if the Court considers, following an examination of the Respondent’s situation, that there are valid reasons for believing that the Respondent would run a real risk to the protection of his other fundamental rights if he was surrendered to the UK.
The Respondent filed three reports in support of his submission, including a Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (“CPT”) Report, and highlighted the findings on the risk of inter prisoner violence. The other two reports were in relation to two specific prisons in the London area. One report referred to the inter prisoner violence and the other discussed overcrowding in the prison.
In applying the one-stage test for TCAWs, the Court found that, whilst there are ongoing difficulties in relation to overcrowding and inter prisoner violence generally in the UK prison estate, having considered all of the material submitted by the Respondent, this did not give rise to concerns that, if he surrendered, the Respondent would be exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment such as to give to possible breach of Article 3 of Convention. The Court therefore rejected the grounds of objection and proposed to make an order for his surrender.
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