New opinion on prison conditions to be obtained in extradition procedure

Case no. 261/2016
Order made on 24 February 2017

The Prosecution Service
vs.
T1, T2 and T3

In connection with the hearing of a request from the Romanian authorities for the extradition of T1, T2 and T3 for criminal prosecution in Romania based on a European arrest warrant, it was brought into question whether this would be in violation of the Danish Extradition Act and the European Human Rights Convention. The defendants pleaded that the conditions in Romanian prisons did not live up to the provision in the Human Rights Convention stating that no one must be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.

During the High Court's hearing of the case, the Prosecution Service obtained an opinion from the Romanian authorities on Romanian prison conditions. Based on a judgment delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in October 2016, in which the Court clarified its practice regarding the conditions of space in prisons, the Supreme Court held that a new opinion was to be obtained from the Romanian authorities on the conditions under which T1, T2 and T3 would be placed if they were extradited.

The case was thus stayed while the Prosecution Service obtained a new opinion from the Romanian authorities.