The High Court has ordered the surrender of Adam Jan Szadkowski to Poland under a European arrest warrant seeking enforcement of two prison sentences. Mr Justice Paul Burns delivered the judgment on 31 January 2022.
The warrant sought enforcement of a one-year sentence in case II K 1660/07/K, with nine months and 21 days remaining, and a six-month sentence in case II K 10/06/K, with five months and 29 days remaining. The court said each sentence met the statutory minimum gravity requirement. It found that the offences described in the warrant corresponded to offences under Irish law: theft and criminal damage for the first case, and criminal damage for the second. The judgment records that Szadkowski appeared at both trials.
Szadkowski argued that enforcement of the second sentence had expired. Polish authorities said a suspension of the limitation period meant it remained enforceable until after 19 June 2031. He said neither he nor his Polish lawyer knew of the extension or had an opportunity to address the court about it. The Irish court accepted the issuing authority’s information, relying on the mutual trust underpinning the European arrest warrant system, and dismissed that objection.
He also argued that the time elapsed and the effect of surrender on his private and family life made surrender incompatible with Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. In affidavits, he described living and working in Ireland since 2007, his family circumstances, and concerns about financial support and a child’s medical treatment if he were surrendered. The court acknowledged an adverse impact on his personal and family life but said the circumstances were not truly exceptional enough to justify refusing surrender. It also concluded that the presumption that Poland would comply with fundamental rights had not been rebutted, and that surrender would not breach the Constitution or the State’s Convention obligations.
Pardon applications in Poland were also unsuccessful, the court was informed. After dismissing the objections, the High Court ordered surrender under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. The judgment records the order; it does not state that the surrender had already taken place.