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Ireland allowed not to extradite Pole if fair trial at risk, says top EU court

PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek 25.07.2018 16:00
A Polish man suspected of drug trafficking does not have to be extradited if Ireland finds that he runs a "real risk" of not receiving a fair trial in Poland, a top EU court said on Wednesday.
Photo: Joe Gratz (Public Domain)Photo: Joe Gratz (Public Domain)

Commentators have said the much-anticipated ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union was expected to be instrumental to an EU decision whether to take "urgent action” over Poland’s new Supreme Court law amid an ongoing row over the rule of law.

The Polish man, identified by the Court of Justice of the European Union only as "LM", was the subject of three European arrest warrants issued by Poland over suspicions of drug trafficking.

He was arrested in Ireland in May last year but did not agree to being handed over to Polish authorities, saying that, due to court reforms in Poland, he might not get a fair trial, the EU court said.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro stressed that the Court of Justice of the European Union did not say Poland had violated the rule of law.

Ziobro added that, contrary to what an Irish court had wanted, the EU court did not back an automatic refusal to hand over the Polish citizen.

Warsaw has been at loggerheads with Brussels over an alleged threat to the rule of law in Poland after the country’s conservative government introduced sweeping changes to the judiciary, the latest of which include changes to the laws governing the Supreme Court.

Poland's governing Law and Justice (PiS) party has said the changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past, accusing judges of being an elite, self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.

But opponents have accused Law and Justice of aiming to stack courts with its own candidates and to dismantle the rule of law.

The European Commission last December took the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland, stepping up pressure on Warsaw over controversial changes to the judicial system by the country’s ruling conservatives.

Last month, the European Commission’s vice president said urgent action needs to be taken over Poland’s new Supreme Court law.

(vb/pk)

tags: rule of law
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