extradition to Italy averted

Higher Regional Court Hamm, Court's Order of 02. 02. 2016 - III-2 Ausl 117/14- cancellation of a previous decision on the admissibility of the extradition based on EAW - inadmissible extradition of a Germany-based Italian to Italy

Finally we were able avert the extradition of our client to Italy for criminal prosecution. The Higher Regional Court in Hamm (ruling from 02.02.2016 – III-2 Ausl 117/14) annulled a prior decision on the admissibility of extradition based on the European arrest warrant and closed proceedings.  

This was one of the cases where we have always tried, parallel to the extradition procedure in Germany, to find a solution in the state which had issued the European arrest warrant. In this case it was in Italy. This was the strategy of choice because the suspicion that he had committed the crime was very questionable because was able to provide an alibi for the alleged time of the crime.

However, under the European Arrest Warrant scheme, domestic courts have few powers to test the evidence underpinning a request for extradition. In particular, courts are not obliged to consider the merits of the case. Therefore, it can be difficult, even with an alibi, to prevent extradition at a German court. We pursued a two-fold strategy in this case and, therefore, effected for our client the lifting of the arrest warrant in the issuing state.