The Italian European Arrest Warrants for the Five Greeks Taking Part in Riots and Their Rejection by the Greek Authorities
| Author | Antonios E. Kouroutakis |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441600700304 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
New Journal of Eu ropean Crimina l Law, Vol. 7, Issue 3, 2016 295
THE ITALIAN EUROPEAN ARREST
WARRANTS FOR THE FIVE GREEKS TAKING
PART IN RIOTS AND THEIR REJECTION BY
THE GREEK AUTHORITIES
A E. K*
1. INTRODUCTION
In May 2015 protests took place in Milan aga inst the Expo 2015 (Universal Exposit ion)
but violence overshadowed the demonstrations as the streets of Milan were
transformed into a battleground. e Italian police detai ned a number of
demonstrators, among them ve Greek students who were ngerprinted and were
subjected to (DNA) sample collection but they were released and retu rned to Greece.
e same year, in November the Italian authorities prosecuted them with the
accusation of causing damages1 and ag gravated resist ance during t he
demonstrations.2 Such charges entail prison sentence s of 8 to 15 years as a number of
factors increased the se verity of the aforementioned criminal acts .
On 9November 2015 the Italian authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant
(hereina er EAW)3 and requested their arrest a nd extradition to Italy.
e thorough examination of the decisions is of signi cant importance for two
reasons. First it is believed to be the rst time t hat the mechanism of the EAW has
been used to extradite protesters being charged for crimes such as aggravated
resistance in combination with the use of improvised weapons, a nd destruction and
looting. Second, these decisions test the functioning a nd the limits of the EAW
mechanism as the criminal legal f ramework between Italy, the issuing country and
Greece, the country f rom which extradition is sought lacks harmonisation. In Italy
the charges car ry far heavier penalties tha n the equivalent acts in Greece.
* Postdoctoral Fellow at Aristotle University of essaloniki (DPhil Oxon, L LM UCLA School of
Law, LLB Democritus University of race). e author is grateful t o Ms Niovi Vavoula for her
valuable comments.
1 See Italia n Penal Code, Arti cles61 (2), 81 (1) and (2), 110, 112, 419 and 423.
2 See Italia n Penal Code, Ar ticles81 (1) and (2), 110, 337, 339 (2) and (3).
3 2002/584/J HA: Council Fra mework Decision of 13June 2002 on t he European arres t warrant and
the surrender pro cedures between Mem ber States, OJ L 190 of 18.7. 2002.
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