Polish Court Problems Can’t Stop Extraditions, EU Magistrate Says

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — Countries cannot automatically refuse extradition requests to Poland based on the worsening condition of the country’s judicial system, an adviser to the EU’s top court said Thursday. 

According to the opinion of European Court of Justice Advocate General Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, a national court can only reject a European arrest warrant in exceptional circumstances and the deficiencies of Polish courts are not a sufficient reason. 

“Even though the threat to the independence of Polish courts may have worsened…it is not possible simply to suspend, automatically and indiscriminately, the application of the framework decision in respect of any EAWs issued by those courts,” Campos Sánchez-Bordona wrote, using an abbreviation for the warrants. The advisory opinion is nonbinding but the Court of Justice follows the legal reasoning of its magistrates in about 80% of cases. 

The case dates back to a July decision by the Amsterdam District Court, which refused to execute an arrest warrant for a Polish national accused of drug smuggling. The court held that “there is a real risk of a violation of the right to an independent court and thus of an infringement of the essence of the right to a fair trial” if they sent the man to Poland to be tried. 

Two months later, the International Legal Assistance Chamber, a group of special magistrates who determine whether foreign nationals living in the Netherlands may be extradited, ruled it was stopping the surrender of all suspects to Poland.

“The court that issued the [EAW] already no longer meets the requirements of effective judicial protection,” it said.

The European arrest warrant system, which came into effect in 2004, replaced a process in which the EU’s 27 member states had to negotiate their own extradition arrangements with one another.

The current system, Campos Sánchez-Bordona wrote, is founded on “the principles of mutual recognition and mutual trust between member states.” Countries can, however, refuse requests if there is a real risk that a suspect’s fundamental rights will be breached. 

“Ultimately, the possibility of refusing to execute an EAW … requires a rigorous examination, to be carried out by the executing judicial authority,” the magistrate wrote. 

During a hearing last month, the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, sided with Poland and said a blanket refusal to execute warrants would create serious problems. Campos Sánchez-Bordona agreed.

“The refusal to execute every EAW issued by a member state would in all likelihood result in numerous criminal offences going unpunished,” the advisory opinion states.

Germany and Spain have also refused to extradite suspects to Poland, expressing doubt over the fairness of the country’s judiciary system. Critics of the right-wing Polish government say its so-called judicial reforms are undermining rule of law. 

Campos Sánchez-Bordona also voiced his concern over those issues in Thursday’s opinion.

“The systemic or generalized deficiencies which can be identified in relation to the independence of Polish courts do not, in my view, deprive those courts of their nature as courts. They continue to be courts, even though the independence of the judiciary, taken to mean a group of courts which exercise jurisdiction, is threatened by governmental structures,” he wrote.  

The EU has launched several infringement proceedings against Poland. Under the bloc’s charter, a member state can be penalized for failing to uphold the EU’s democratic and rule of law principles. The Court of Justice blocked a scheme to force older Polish judges into retirement last year as well as a move to push out female judges. 

A final ruling is expected before the end of the year. 

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