The High Court has ordered Grzegorz Wlodarczyk to be surrendered to Poland to serve the remainder of a 12-year prison sentence for murder.
Polish authorities said Wlodarczyk was convicted after a man was battered, kicked and strangled during an attack on the night of April 25 to 26, 2003. The European arrest warrant stated that eight years, eight months and five days remained to be served.
Wlodarczyk disputed aspects of the Polish procedural history. He said he had originally received a 15-year sentence which was later reduced to 12 years on appeal and raised concerns about whether his full period in pre-trial custody had been credited.
The High Court preferred the information supplied by the Polish judicial authority. It accepted that the enforceable judgment was a 12-year sentence imposed by the Circuit Court in Katowice on November 23, 2012, with credit for temporary detention between March 17, 2009 and July 12, 2012.
The central objection concerned prison conditions. Wlodarczyk said he had previously given evidence against people involved in organised crime and required protection in custody. He described spending long periods on remand alone for about 23 hours a day, with limited exercise and social contact, and argued that he risked returning to similar conditions.
Ms Justice Donnelly accepted that prolonged isolated detention can, depending on its circumstances, breach the prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment. She also accepted that Wlodarczyk had previously spent a considerable period in restrictive conditions.
However, the court said the legal test was forward-looking. The evidence did not establish how protective custody operates for sentenced prisoners in Poland or that Wlodarczyk would face conditions reaching the Article 3 threshold. Polish authorities had said special protection would be provided if his life or health were threatened.
The court found no substantial grounds for believing that surrender would expose him to inhuman or degrading treatment and ordered his surrender.