German court refuses extradition of accused Albanian drug trafficker to UK due to prison conditions

In a groundbreaking decision earlier this year, a German court has refused to extradite an Albanian man accused of drug trafficking to the United Kingdom, citing grave concerns about the state of prison conditions in Britain.

The ruling has drawn strong reactions, with legal experts and human rights advocates terming it a "severe rebuke" and an "embarrassment for the UK".

The case centres around an Albanian national who had been residing in the UK and was accused of trafficking approximately five kilogrammes of cocaine, in addition to laundering around £330,000. The Westminster magistrates court issued an international arrest warrant, commonly known as an Interpol red notice, requesting his return to the UK.

However, the accused had travelled to Germany because his fiancée was seriously ill there, setting in motion a legal battle that has raised questions about the British prison system.

The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, situated in south-west Germany, made its decision earlier this year, but it has only recently come to light. This case is believed to be the first of its kind in Germany, further highlighting the significance of the decision.

According to a translation of the court report, the court declared that the extradition of the Albanian to Britain was "currently inadmissible" due to the dire state of the British prison system, without guarantees from the UK authorities. The ruling emphasised that there were no legal remedies against this decision.

The defendant was apprehended by German law enforcement and held in extradition custody. His defence lawyer, Jan-Carl Janssen, who had studied in Glasgow and had authored a thesis on UK prison conditions, played a pivotal role in the case.

In court, Janssen referenced his research, which highlighted chronic overcrowding, staff shortages and violence among inmates in British prisons. This evidence prompted the German court to seek assurances on two occasions from UK authorities regarding the conditions of imprisonment in the UK.

The court demanded guarantees from the UK that they would comply with minimum standards in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, the court asked British authorities to specify the prisons where the accused Albanian drug trafficker would be detained and the conditions he would face in those facilities.

The first response to the court's request for reassurance came from a police station in Manchester on the final day of the deadline. It stated that 20,000 additional prison places were being constructed to address the problem of overcrowding. However, the second request for clarification on UK prison conditions remained unanswered by the UK.

While concerns about prison conditions in various European countries have been raised in the past, this is the first known case where a European country has refused to extradite an individual to the UK due to such concerns.

With the United Kingdom no longer a member of the European Union, the rules of the European arrest warrant no longer apply. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement concluded between the EU and the UK in 2020 states that an arrest warrant can be subject to certain conditions.

It specifies that "if there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a real threat to the protection of the fundamental rights of the requested person, the executing judicial authority may, where appropriate, require additional guarantees".

Jonathan Goldsmith, a member of the Law Society, expressed his views on the case in the Law Society Gazette, emphasising its significance. He stated: "This is an embarrassment for the UK. There have been similar court decisions before under the European arrest warrant framework, but in relation to member states whose records on prisons and human rights the UK would not wish to compare itself with."

Crucially, the accused Albanian drug trafficker was not wanted for any offences committed in Germany. The German court, based on its lack of confidence in the assurances provided by UK authorities, determined that the extradition of the man was "currently inadmissible". As a result, he is currently free.

In response to the court's decision, a spokesperson from the UK's Ministry of Justice stated: "This government is doing more than ever to deliver safe and secure prisons that rehabilitate offenders, cut crime and protect the public."

He continued: "We continue to press ahead with delivering 20,000 additional, modern prison places and our £100 million investment in tough security measures – including X-ray body scanners – is stopping the weapons, drugs and phones that fuel violence behind bars."

This decision by the German court has put the spotlight on the UK's prison system and has raised questions about its compliance with international human rights standards, signalling a potentially significant shift in extradition cases between the UK and other countries. The legal and diplomatic implications of this case are likely to reverberate for some time to come.