The High Court has ordered Bartolomej Verberger’s surrender to the Czech Republic to serve a 10-month prison sentence arising from convictions for offences corresponding in Irish law to assault causing harm and a public-order offence.
The sentence was originally imposed by the District Court in Chomutov on November 28, 2018 and suspended. On May 19, 2021, the Czech court activated the sentence, meaning the previously suspended 10 months had to be served.
Verberger argued that the European arrest warrant was unclear because it was not certain whether the later court had simply activated the original sentence or changed its length or nature.
Mr Justice Paul Burns rejected that argument. Additional information from the Czech authorities confirmed that the May 2021 decision did no more than remove the suspension. The High Court found that the sentence remained the same 10-month term.
The court also rejected an abuse-of-process argument. Verberger had been arrested in Ireland on May 7, 2021 under a separate European arrest warrant issued by a different Czech judicial authority. His lawyers questioned why the May 19 hearing proceeded in his absence despite that arrest. The High Court found no evidence that the Chomutov court had been informed of his Irish arrest and no basis for alleging bad faith.
A third objection concerned Czech prison conditions. The High Court sought further information and was told that surrendered prisoners initially go to Prague Ruzyne before the prison service decides where their sentence will be served. The Czech authorities said prisoners receive at least three square metres of personal space, medical examination and access to healthcare.
The court held that the evidence did not establish a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment and that the statutory presumption of compliance with fundamental-rights requirements had not been rebutted.
All objections were dismissed and surrender under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 was ordered.