JUSTICE : COURT SPELLS OUT ARREST WARRANT REQUIREMENTS.

A European arrest warrant must be executed even if the person has been convicted in absentia after failing to appear in court. This is the gist of a ruling handed down, on 26 February, by the EU Court of Justice (Case C-399/11).

The case concerns an Italian national who lived in Spain and was convicted in the 1990s by Italy for bankruptcy fraud. The Spanish judiciary authorised the extradition and released the suspect on bail. When the suspect fled, the Italian court convicted him in absentia to ten years' imprisonment and directed that notice should be given in future to the two lawyers appointed by him.

Following his arrest by the Spanish police, the accused opposed his surrender to the Italian authorities. He argued that Italian procedural law did not allow appeals against sentences imposed in absentia, for which reason the arrest warrant should be made conditional on Italy guaranteeing the possibility of appealing the judgement.

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