02 Jun 2009

Permission was today granted for a student to take his fight against extradition to the House of Lords. Andrew Symeou, 26, is due to be extradited to Greece on manslaughter charges.

The case against Andrew is widely held to be seriously flawed yet until today it appeared he would be extradited with no opportunity for a British court to consider whether there is any case to answer.

The High Court today decided that Andrew’s case is of such public importance that the law lords should have the opportunity to consider it, if they so wish.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said:

“The shocking story of Andrew Symeou highlights the injustice of instant extradition. No one should be plucked from their home and dragged across the world without even basic evidence shown in a local court. We must address this terrible case but also rectify the whole extradition system which leaves everyone in Britain vulnerable to abuse.”

The evidence against Andrew includes statements given by two of his friends under duress from Greek police officers who reportedly beat them and withheld food and drink – statements which were immediately retracted after the two were released. There is also evidence suggesting police officers falsified evidence, and witness reports that Andrew was not at the club until three hours later have been ignored.

Contact Mairi Clare Rodgers on 0207 378 3656 or 07973 831 128

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Liberty believes a person should not be extradited to stand trial in a foreign country without evidence being presented to a British court to prove there is a prima facie case against them.

2. Andrew Symeou is facing extradition under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The EAW is based upon the presumption that EU countries all have fair and equal systems of justice which should remove the need for the home nation to scrutinise the fairness of extradition within the EU. This presumption is seriously open to question. Under an EAW a person sought by an EU country can be extradited – even if the extradition offence is not an offence in the United Kingdom, provided it carries a prison term of more than 12 months in the issuing member state. The EAW also abolishes the requirement to provide a prima facie case. This seriously increases the risk of injustice in such cases by removing the power of the High Court and Secretary of State to scrutinise the merits in an individual case.

3. The Extradition Act 2003 introduced a two-tier system of extradition depending on the identity of the requesting state. Under the Act, EU Member States who have implemented the Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and the surrender procedures between Member States are designated for the purposes of extradition by order made under part 1 of the Act. Other territories with whom the United Kingdom has extradition relations have been designated by order made under part 2 of the 2003 Act.