Lithuania and Liam Campbell
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Burgess J |
| Judgment Date | 08 July 2009 |
| Neutral Citation | [2009] NICty 5 |
| Year | 2009 |
| Court | County Court (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 08 July 2009 |
1
Neutral Citation No. [2009] NICty 5
Ref:
[2009]NICty5
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
8/7/09
(subject to editorial corrections)
IN THE RECORDER’S COURT FOR THE DIVISION OF BELFAST
BEFORE THE RECORDER
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION UNDER THE EXTRADITION ACT 2003
Between:
LITHUANIA
Applicant
and
LIAM CAMPBELL
Requested Person
________
[1] The Requested Person, Liam Campbell, appeared before me on Wednesday
27th May 2009, having been arrested earlier that day by the Police Service of Northern
Ireland under a European Arrest Warrant dated 18th December 2008 issued by the
Republic of Lithuania.
[2] By the terms of the Warrant Lithuania wish to have Mr Campbell arrested and
surrendered for the purpose of conducting a criminal prosecution for one offence of
smuggling, one offence of a terrorist act and one offence of illegal possession of
firearms, ammunition, explosives or explosive substances, which offences were alleged
to have occurred in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I will hereafter refer to these as “the offences”.
Lithuania also sought the arrest and surrender of other parties for the purpose of
prosecuting them for the offences.
[3] The court is now aware that at the same time as the Warrant was sent to the
authorities in the United Kingdom for execution if Mr Campbell was found to be in the
United Kingdom, it was also sent to the Republic of Ireland. From information
received from the Central Authority for the European Arrest Warrant, Mutual
Assistance and Extradition Division of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law
Reform in the Republic of Ireland the Warrant was received by the Central Authority
and endorsed by the High Court of Ireland for execution on 14th January 2009. The
respondent was arrested on foot of the Warrant on 20th January 2009. Bail was granted
2
by the High Court which was perfected on 26th January 2009. I will refer to the terms of
that bail later in this judgment.
[4] On 22nd May 2009 Mr Campbell entered Northern Ireland. He was arrested by
the PSNI under the provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000, but was released after four
days. He was however then immediately arrested under the Warrant and appeared
before me, as stated, on 27th May.
[5] Between the time of his arrest in the Republic of Ireland on 20th January 2009 and
his entering Northern Ireland on 22nd May 2009 certain steps had been taken in
connection with the legal process for the execution of the Warrant received by the
Republic of Ireland. I will return to what those steps were and at what stage the
proceedings had reached in the Republic, however at this point I record the issue which
has arisen. That is whether this court in Northern Ireland should carry out its
obligations under the Extradition Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) in determining whether,
having been arrested in Northern Ireland, Mr Campbell should be surrendered to
Lithuania. Mr Campbell argues that since he had been arrested in the Republic of
Ireland and the court there had embarked on its legal process for the execution of the
Warrant to determine whether or not it should surrender Mr Campbell to Lithuania,
this court should not take any further steps in order to afford him the right to return to
the Republic of Ireland so that the process in that jurisdiction can continue.
[6] I believe it is accepted by both parties to this matter that there is no specific
provision either in the Framework Decision of 2002, which provided for the setting up
of the European Arrest Warrant procedures, or the 2003 Act that addresses a situation
such as that now faced by this court.
[7] I record that when this issue was first raised I contacted Deputy Prosecutor
General who had been certified under the 2003 Act as the ‘judicial authority’ in
Lithuania who issued the Warrant. I advised the prosecutor of the arrest of Mr
Campbell in the United Kingdom, and also set out the background to the proceedings
as I understood them to be in the Republic of Ireland. I invited him to comment as to
his wishes, as the issuing authority, as to how this court should proceed. As I indicated
to the parties at an earlier hearing the prosecutor, as the judicial authority, indicated he
wished the proceedings to continue in Northern Ireland.
[8] At the same time the legal representatives representing the Requesting State
made contact with the Central Authority in Dublin seeking their views on the current
status of the Warrant in the proceedings in the Republic. Annexed to an affidavit of Mr
Anthony Doyle of the Central Authority there is a letter dated 15th June 2009 from the
Chief State Solicitor’s Office setting out the steps that had been taken and an indication
of the timescale involved in their proceedings. In the final paragraph of that letter from
the Chief State Solicitor, Mr David J O’Haggan, it says as follows:-
“Finally, there does not appear to be any mechanisms in the Framework
Decision to allow one member State hand over (sic) a subject to another
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1 cases
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The Minister for Justice and Equality v Campbell
...courts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK refused to surrender the respondent [ Lithuania v. Campbell [2009] NICty 5; Lithuania v. Campbell, Belfast Recorder's Court, 16th January 2013; Lithuania v. Campbell NIBQ 19; Lithuania v. Campbell, Supreme Court (UK)......