The prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees could affect the execution of a European arrest warrant (EAW).

This aspect has been highlighted by the EU Court of Justice’s ruling, issued on 5^th of April in the case Aranyosi (C-404/15 e C-659/15). For the Luxembourg based judges, national judicial authorities responsible for the execution could stop the procedure of an European arrest warrant if there is a “real risk” that the conditions of detention of the person concerned in the extradition country might damage the detainee because of inhumane and degrading treatment.

Few Worlds on the European Arrest Warrant

Before briefly analysing the ruling we should highlight that the EAW replaces the traditional extradition system among EU member states. Came into force in 2004, it is based on EU Council framework decision 2002/584. The European Arrest Warrant aims at improving and simplifying judicial procedures in EU member states, so to speed up the return of people from another EU country who committed a serious crime. For example, it removes the requirement for double criminality, which is a common feature of international extradition for a wide range of categories of crimes, such as trafficking in human being, corruption and terrorism.

The Aranyosi Case

The Aranyosi case is related to EAW issued for an Hungarian and a Romanian nationals by the national judicial authorities of their own countries of origin. As the two men have been located in Germany, it was the task of German authorities to examine the warrants. Thus the German court has tried to ascertain from the EU Court of Justice whether the execution of European arrest warrants must be refused.

Indeed, in 2014 and 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (an entirely separate body from the EU) has held in several judgments that fundamental rights were infringed by Romania and Hungary due to widespread overcrowding of the two countries’ prison.

The EU Court of Justice itself has highlighted that the EU member States that agreed to EAW must stick to article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment.

The European Court of Justice’s Ruling

Thus, Luxembourg based judges ruled that a country can decide not to execute a European arrest warrant if there is evidence of a “real risk” of inhuman or degrading treatment for the detainee in the country where the warrant was issued.

Otherwise, the EU Court of Justice stated that it is important not to hinder the mutual recognition and trust, which are at the core of the EAW system. For this reason it has been stated also that, where the risk derives from “general detention conditions”, this cannot in itself lead to the warrant being refused.

Therefore, It is necessary to be proved a “real risk” for the subject concerned in the procedure. The EU arrest warrant can be concluded only in case additional information were provided and the risk of inhuman and degrading treatment were excluded in reasonable terms.

“This ruling will further diminish the immediacy of the European arrest warrant which has already been beset by controversy”, commented some opponents to this decision, while on the other hand it seems for the EU that this ruling could bring an improvement in the way EAW operates – also in order to continue building mutual confidence in the EU countries’ judicial systems.