The High Court has rejected objections by Lithuanian national Valerijus Voronenko to his surrender to Lithuania and proposed making an order returning him there for prosecution on three alleged offences.
Mr Justice Sean Gillane delivered judgment on July 10, 2026, following a European Arrest Warrant issued on March 19 by the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Department of Criminal Prosecution of Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office. Voronenko had been arrested in Ireland on April 2 on foot of a Schengen Information System alert, and the warrant was produced to the High Court on April 8.
Lithuanian authorities seek to prosecute him over the alleged unlawful acquisition of another person's bank card, the alleged use of that card for contactless payments on January 27, 2026, and alleged damage to a mobile speed detection device in Kaunas on March 13, 2024.
Voronenko filed a notice of objection on June 18. Two specific issues were initially raised: whether the Lithuanian deputy chief prosecutor was competent to issue the warrant and whether the third alleged offence corresponded to an offence under Irish law.
The first point was not pressed at the hearing. The court nevertheless found no substance to it, relying on earlier decisions concerning the status of Lithuanian prosecutorial authorities under the European Arrest Warrant system.
The main dispute concerned the Kaunas incident. The warrant alleges that Voronenko intentionally pushed a Vitronic PoliScan FM1 speed detection device with his hand, knocking it over and damaging it. The judge held that those alleged acts, if committed in Ireland, would amount to criminal damage under section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act 1991. He rejected the argument that the warrant failed to establish intention or absence of lawful excuse.
Having found the statutory requirements satisfied and no other ground requiring refusal, the court rejected the objections and proposed an order surrendering Voronenko to an authorised representative of Lithuania.