Graeme Hall’s client discharged from 7 year 8 month extradition request

District Judge Snow has refused a Romanian extradition request for offences of fraud for which a sentence of 7 years and 8 months had been imposed.

The Judge found that the requested person was not deliberately absent from his trial in 2004, where an initial sentence of 11 years was imposed, and that he was not entitled to a retrial.

The Judge rejected the Romanian authorities’ submission that the requested person’s application in 2023 for his sentence to be ‘converted’ from the old Romanian Criminal Code to the new Romanian Criminal Code - which saw his sentence reduced from 11 years to 7 years and 8 months - was the “trial” for the purposes of section 20 of the Extradition Act 2003. This is because the 2023 application considered neither the merits of the conviction nor the merits of sentence by reference to the facts of the case or the requested person’s personal circumstances.

Graeme Hall was instructed by Katy Smart and Enrico Braguglia of Sonn Macmillan Walker.