Botos v Public Prosecutors Office, Italy, Extradition order

The appellant’s appeal against an order for his extradition pursuant to a European arrest warrant was allowed. The Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court, held that the present was an exceptional case where the public interest in the appellant’s extradition was outweighed by the rights of the appellant and his family under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The appellant, a Romania national living in the UK since 2007, appealed against an order for his extradition in 2018 pursuant to a European arrest warrant (EAW) issued in 2017. The EWA was in respect of a conviction in Italy (in his absence) in 2014 for one offence of facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence to Italy. He was initially sentenced to five years imprisonment which was later reduced to one year and six months.

The appellant appealed against the extradition order on two grounds: (i) that the judge had erred in concluding that the his extradition was not barred by s 20 of the Extradition Act 2003 (EA 2003); and (ii) that the judge had erred in concluding that pursuant to EA 2003 s 21, the appellant’s extradition would not amount to a disproportionate interference with his right to a private and family life under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Appeal allowed