Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Assange case highlights EU arrest warrant 'abuses'

  • Julian Assange is to be extradited on an EU warrant (Photo: Wikipedia)

The EU arrest warrant scheme under which WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to be extradited to Sweden is a "threat to human rights," as it is often abused with harsh consequences for the lives of the people concerned, Europe's chief human rights defender Thomas Hammarberg said Tuesday (15 March).

"The request made by Sweden to the United Kingdom for the surrender of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, put the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in the headlines," said Hammarberg, who is the high commissioner for human rights with the Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based intergovernmental organisation.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Created in 2002 as a "fast-track extradition scheme" for persons suspected or convicted of serious crimes, the European arrest warrant is in fact used mostly for minor offences and has resulted in a number of cases being brought before the European Court of Human Rights.

"The problems appear to have worsened with the increase of the number of EAWs – there are now an average of more than one thousand per month, the overwhelming majority of which relate to minor crimes," Hammarberg noted.

He cited the imprisonment of innocent persons, disproportionate arrests, violations of procedural rights and the impossibility in some countries for an innocent person to appeal against a decision.

Since the only condition for carrying out the extradition is that the suspect must be accused of a crime carrying a minimum prison sentence of 12 months, judges in the home country of the suspect have few means to verify how justified the charges are.

"There is a need to strengthen the human rights safeguards in EAW procedures," he stressed, especially since the system "affects thousands of persons every year."

Catherine Heard from Fair Trials International, a British charity offering legal assistance to people arrested in other countries, said that her group has long time documented EAW abuses.

"We have seen the lives and futures of many ordinary people – teachers, firemen, chefs and students –blighted by the European Arrest Warrant, a system that infringes basic rights and fails to deliver a fair and efficient extradition system," she said in a press statement, welcoming Hammarberg's remarks.

In the case of Gary Mann, a fireman who was extradited to serve a two-year prison sentence for alleged hooliganism in Portugal, British courts stated that the warrant was an "embarrassment" to the UK and Portugal, said "serious injustice" had occurred, and that his trial in Portugal breached his basic fair trial rights.

A review of the way the EU arrest warrant has been implemented since 2002 is currently being worked on in the European Commission, with proposals for improvement likely to be published early April, a spokesman for justice commissioner Viviane Reding told this website.

The scheme is unlikely to be scrapped, however, meaning that for WikiLeaks chief Assange, the extradition will still have to be carried out.

Last month, a British judge has ruled that Assange can be extradited to Sweden to be tried on charges of harassing and raping two women. His lawyers have filed an appeal saying Assange could face extradition to the United Sates, imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay and even the death penalty. The appeal is still pending.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Podcast

Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza

This week's Euroscopic explores the consequences of Moscow's terror attack, the convergence of public safety and border/migration policy in an EU election year, and the United Nations Security resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Investigation

How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Psychotropic drug abuse is one of the many dangers migrants face along the Balkan route. In overcrowded camps, doctors prescribe tranquilisers to calm people down. And black market circuits and pharmacies selling drugs without prescription contribute to the issue.

Podcast

Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza

This week's Euroscopic explores the consequences of Moscow's terror attack, the convergence of public safety and border/migration policy in an EU election year, and the United Nations Security resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Latest News

  1. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  2. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  3. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  4. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  5. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  6. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating
  7. Syrian mayor in Germany speaks out against AfD
  8. Asian workers pay price for EU ship recycling

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us