European Arrest Warrant, but German lawyer avoids extradition from England

Higher Regional Court Cologne, Court's Order of 27.09.2016 – 2 Ws 632/16 - cancellation of a German arrest-warrant and extradition-request to England

12.03.2017 - European Arrest Warrant, but German criminal lawyer avoids extradition from England. - Extradition Lawyer Dr. Martin Rademacher won at Higher Regional Court of Cologne (2 Ws 632/16) with successful appeal against a national arrest warrant, issued by the Criminal Court of Düren, Germany. The Aachen Regional Court had confirmed the national arrest warrant initially, which was the basis for a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). As a consequence of our successful appeal to the Higher Regional Court of Cologne the public prosecutor had to withdraw its EAW and extradition request to England.

On the basis of that European Arrest Warrant our client had been arrested during a business trip at Manchester Airport in May 2015. He then had to face EAW extradition hearings in front of Westminster Magistrates Court where the judge decides if extradition should be instructed. Our client was held in custody for several days and then released but had to carry an electronic footcuff over a number of months and stay in England. He considered to bring his case to the Appeal Courts and the Supreme Court before we solved his problem in Germany, which enabled our client to return from UK to his place of business in Spain in September 2016

In the meantime, the criminal proceedings in Germany have been brought to a close. The criminal proceedings, with a focus on the allegation of money laundering, were terminated in March 2017 with a limited probation penalty.

The National Crime Agency published, that UK received around 12.500 EAWs in 2015, but the number does not really represent the number of wanted people in the UK, because member states regularly issue requests to numerous member states when they do not know where a wanted person may be. In the same year 2.041 wanted persons who have been identified as being in the UK have been arrested because of EAWs in the UK. People arrested on an EAW have the right to appeal against or to contest their extradition and 1.149 persons were extradited because of European Arrest Warrants. During the same year (2015) UK issued 228 European Arrest Warrants, 150 persons were arrested on UK EAWs in the member states and 123 were extradited to UK.