German Federal Constitutional Court (2 BvR 237/18) on extradition to Hungary

Extradition to Hungary: Following my constitutional complaint, the Federal Constitutional Court (2 BvR 237/18) annulled two decisions of the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) of 19 January 2018 and 9 February 2018 which allowed extradition to Hungary.

The Higher Regional Court of Munich did not want to see obstacles to extradition and Munich did not want to deal with the deficient conditions of detention in Hungary that I pointed out; a topic that has been on the agenda of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for years. By order of 12 February 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court had already immediately prohibited the transfer of the complainant to the Hungarian authorities until the decision on the constitutional complaint. By order of 21 March 2018, the German Federal Constitutional Court repeated the temporary injunction. 

In Germany, there is only one appeal against the decision of the Higher Regional Court in extradition proceedings, the constitutional complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe for violation of fundamental rights. The constitutional complaint is the end of national legal remedies. After that, there is only the human rights complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Statistically speaking, the constitutional complaint and the human rights complaint are difficult legal remedies that allow only a very cautious prognosis.

Prison conditions in Hungary are a problem.

Within one day following our application for a temporary injunction on 12 February 2018 the German Federal Constitutional Court (- 2 BvR 237/18 -) stopt our client`s extradition  to Hungary.

Our constitutional complaint and the application for a temporary injunction are directed against a decision of the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) of 19 January 2018, declaring extradition to Hungary admissible on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued in Hungary. In this decision the Higher Regional Court of Munich disregarded our client's objections to the catastrophic conditions of detention in Hungary.

Before we filed the application for a temporary injunction, we had given once again - with an application pursuant to § 33 IRG -  the court in Munich the opportunity to correct the first decision. However, the Higher Regional Court of Munich also rejected this application for a new decision, so that we had to appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court, which immediately served an interim injunction on the Public Prosecutor's Office in Munich.

By order of 16 August 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court accepted the constitutional complaint for decision and granted it: "The challenged decisions violate Article 19.4 of the Basic Law because the Munich Higher Regional Court did not sufficiently clarify the facts of the case with regard to the danger of the complainant suffering inhumane conditions of detention in Hungary.