Charter of Fundamental Rights: EU Judgment in Case C-202/24 Alchaster

Monday, 29 July 2024

EU Judgment in Case C-202/24 Alchaster

(Charter of Fundamental Rights – Area of freedom, security and justice – Judicial cooperation in criminal matter)

On November 26, 2021, the District Judge of the Magistrates’ Courts of Northern Ireland (UK) issued four warrants for the arrest of MA (anonymised) in respect to four offences involving terrorism, alleged to have been committed between 18th and

20th July 2020. By judgment of October 24, 2022 and orders dated October 24 and 7 November 2022, the High Court (Ireland) ordered MA’s surrender to the UK, while refusing him leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal (Ireland).

By decision of January 17, 2023, the Supreme Court granted MA leave to appeal against the above-mentioned High Court’s (Ireland) judgement and orders

MA submitted that his surrender is incompatible with the principle of the legality of criminal offences and penalties.

The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides that surrender mechanisms apply between the UK and the Member States. It considers that, pursuant to the applicable Irish legislation and to Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on European Arrest Warrant, the UK must be treated as if it were a Member State.

The referring court noted that, if MA was to be surrendered to the UK and sentenced to imprisonment, his right to conditional release would be governed by the relative UK legislation adopted after the alleged commission of the offences subject to criminal proceedings. The regime permitting conditional release in Northern Ireland was amended with effect from April 30, 2021.

Prior to this change, a person convicted of certain terrorism-related offences was eligible for automatic parole after serving half of the sentence. Under the regime applicable from that date, the conditional release of such a person will have to be approved by a specialised authority and may only take place after the person concerned has served two thirds of the sentence.

The compatibility of UK legislation in question with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECFHR) has already been reviewed by UK courts and MA’s argument of a risk of breach of rights was dismissed in that context.

The referring court wonders whether it was possible to reach a similar conclusion as regards a risk of breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Since the Court of Justice has not yet ruled on the implications of Article 49 of the Charter as regards an amendment to the provisions on conditional release, the Irish Court Supreme Court referred the case.

Background Documents C-202/24

Montag, 29. Juli 2024

Urteil des Gerichtshofs (Große Kammer) in der Rechtssache C‑202/24 Alchaster

Auslieferungen an das Vereinigte Königreich nach dem Brexit

Ein Gericht in Nordirland (Vereinigtes Königreich) hat einen Haftbefehl gegen einen mutmaßlichen Straftäter ausgestellt, der im Juli 2020 terroristische Straftaten begangen haben soll, und die Republik Irland um seine Übergabe ersucht.

Der Betroffene wendet gegen seine Übergabe ein, dass sie gegen den Grundsatz der Gesetzmäßigkeit von Strafen verstoßen würde. Das Vereinigte Königreich habe nämlich nach dem Zeitpunkt der angeblichen Straftaten seine Regeln über vorzeitige Haftentlassung verschärft.

Der irische Supreme Court ersucht den Gerichtshof in diesem Zusammenhang um Auslegung des Abkommens über Handel und Zusammenarbeit zwischen der EU und den Vereinigten Königreich vom 30. Dezember 2020 sowie der EU-Grundrechte-Charta.

Generalanwalt Szpunar hat in seinen Schlussanträgen vom 27. Juni 2024 die Ansicht vertreten, dass das Abkommen in Bezug auf Übergabeverfahren ein hohes Maß an Vertrauen zwischen der EU und dem Vereinigten Königreich in ihre jeweiligen Rechtssysteme vorsehe. Unter bestimmten Umständen sei es zwar möglich, die Vollstreckung eines Haftbefehls anzulehnen, im vorliegenden Fall spreche aber nichts gegen die Vollstreckung.

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