International & European arrest warrant

Overview

The European arrest warrant ("EAW") is a simplified cross-border judicial surrender procedure – for the purpose of prosecuting or executing a custodial sentence or detention order. A warrant issued by one EU country's judicial authority is valid in the entire territory of the EU. It has replaced the lengthy extradition procedures that used to exist between EU countries.

The procedures in order to issue such warrant are initiated with a request by a judicial authority in one EU country to arrest a person in another and surrender them for prosecution, or to execute a custodial sentence or detention order issued in the first country. The mechanism is based on the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions. In applying the EAW, authorities have to respect the procedural rights of suspects or accused persons – such as the right to information, to have a lawyer, and an interpreter, and to legal aid as stipulated by law in the country where they are arrested.

The country where the person is arrested has to take a final decision on the execution of the European arrest warrant within 60 days after the arrest of the person. If the person consents to the surrender, the surrender decision must be taken within 10 days. The person requested must be surrendered as soon as possible on a date agreed between the authorities concerned, and no later than 10 days after the final decision on the execution of the European arrest warrant.

Any persons subject to a EAW have the right of access to a lawyer in the executing Member State upon arrest pursuant to the EAW. With regard to the content of the right of access to a lawyer in the executing Member State, requested persons have the following rights:

(a) the right of access to a lawyer in such time and in such a manner as to allow the requested persons to exercise their rights effectively and in any event without undue delay from deprivation of liberty;

(b) the right to meet and communicate with the lawyer representing them;

(c) the right for their lawyer to be present and, in accordance with procedures in national law, participate during a hearing by the executing judicial authority; and

(d) the requested persons have the right to appoint a lawyer in the issuing Member State, to assist the lawyer in the executing Member State by providing relevant information and advice.

Our Experience

Our founding partner is a member of the European Criminal Bar Association, Expert of the International Fair Trial and a member of the Law Office of the Republic of Cyprus for the European Arrest Warrants.

Our firm has significant experience on the representation of requested persons under European and International Arrest Warrant (Europe, Russia Federation and United Stated of America), among others:

  • the representation of client who was arrested on a European warrant in connection with a drugs trafficking case involving about six tonnes of processed cannabis and 258.000 amphetamine pills, intercepted in Greece in 2018.
  • Our client, Ukrainian client accused for corporate fraud and theft, extradition issued and following court hearing the court rejected the application for the extradition.
  • Request of the Republic of Belarus for the extradition of our client, a Greek Citizen, in connection with multimillion fraud. The Court rejected the extradition, among others due to the risk of bridge of human rights, in case the application was held.