The High Court has ordered the surrender of Stanislav Smirnovs to Latvia to serve the remaining portion of a five-year sentence, after rejecting his objections to a European Arrest Warrant.
In a judgment delivered on 17 December 2021, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said the warrant sought his surrender to serve four years, 11 months and 27 days. The sentence was imposed on 2 July 2013, following its reactivation after it had originally been suspended. The court was informed that the reactivation followed non-compliance with suspension conditions, including a failure to engage with probation services.
The warrant covered 17 offences in a single, indivisible sentence. These included allegations concerning repeated use and attempted use of counterfeit American Express cards, and two instances of driving while a ban on using a driving licence was in force. The warrant said the card transactions on 18 May 2011 included six completed transactions totalling LVL 552.64 and ten attempted transactions totalling LVL 925.40.
Smirnovs challenged whether the conduct corresponded to offences under Irish law. The judge found that the allegations about acquiring and using counterfeit cards corresponded to Irish offences of making gain or causing loss by deception, using a false instrument, and having custody of a false instrument.
He also argued that the driving allegations did not establish the Irish offence of driving without a licence. The court sought clarification from the Latvian issuing authority about the traffic regulation cited in the warrant. Its response said the regulation prohibited driving when a prohibition on using a driving licence had taken effect. Smirnovs then conceded that the information ended his argument on that point. The judge found correspondence with the Irish offence of driving without a licence and dismissed his objection under section 38 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.
The judge said surrender was not precluded under the relevant provisions of the 2003 Act and made an order under section 16 for Smirnovs’ surrender to Latvia. The judgment records that he had appeared at the hearing which led to the decision being enforced; no objection was raised on that basis.