Higher Regional Court of Koblenz has suspended extradition warrant

04.06. 2020 - Croatia informs that extraditions to Croatia are currently not to be carried out due to the Covid-19 virus. In our case, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz has therefore suspended the execution of the German extradition warrant issued on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant and released our client from further extradition detention.

because of Covid-19 Croatia does not accept extraditions 

We were lucky in our case. At the same time, other courts consider the continuation of the German extradition warrant to be justified in comparable cases even during the corona pandemic. Among others, the Higher Regional Court of Brandenburg (decision of 04.05.2020 - 1 AR 25/19) does not want to revoke arrest warrants in the case of delayed extradition to Hungary due to the Covid 19 pandemic, although in the case there extradition cannot actually be carried out because the entry of civil aircraft into Hungary is currently not permitted. However the Higher Regional Court of Brandenburg said, the intention is to re-examine at a later date whether there had been avoidable delays in the transfer and, in particular, whether the continuation of the extradition detention was still proportionate.

The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court takes the same hard line and advocates an extension of extradition detention as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, because – the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court said - the COVID-19 pandemic is an exceptional circumstance which could justify the suspension of surrender deadlines in the case of extradition to an EU Member State on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant (27.03.2020 - Ausl. 301 AR 47/20).

German extradition Lawyer on COVID-19 in prisons

Prisons are corona hotspots. The "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" reported online on July 20, 2020, that in the San Quentin prison near San Francisco two out of three prison inmates are infected with corona. The online magazine "Neues Deutschland" reported in April 2020 that in New York City the corona virus spreads seven times faster among prisoners than in the free population. Prisoners have hardly any possibilities to protect themselves against transmission. There are often not enough functioning sanitary facilities, disinfectants, soap, masks and gloves. But what is even worse: When you look at the pictures from different countries around the world, in many places there is not even an awareness that you can and must protect yourself. Where there is a lack of such awareness, one can hardly assume that anything is done in the prisons to protect the inmates.