The High Court has ruled that a Scottish Government request seeking Ireland’s consent to the onward extradition of Safet Bukoshi, also known as Astrit Picari, to Albania qualifies as a request from the United Kingdom under European Arrest Warrant legislation.
Bukoshi had previously been surrendered from Ireland to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant. Albania later sought his extradition to serve a 17-year sentence following a conviction described in the judgment as essentially murder by means of an automatic firearm.
Scottish authorities said Bukoshi had been convicted of the offences for which Ireland originally surrendered him and was subsequently detained in a Scottish state hospital under a compulsion order because of mental-health concerns. Albania had tried him in his absence, although Scottish authorities said assurances had been received that Albanian law permitted re-examination of the case.
In May 2015, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice wrote directly to Ireland’s European Arrest Warrant central authority seeking High Court consent to Bukoshi’s onward extradition. The legal question was whether a request made by the Scottish Government could properly be regarded as one made by the UK, which was the issuing state under the original warrant.
Bukoshi argued that Irish law required the request itself to come from the issuing state and that a communication from a constituent authority within the UK was insufficient.
Ms Justice Donnelly agreed that the request had to objectively be one from the UK, rather than merely originate somewhere within it. The original Scottish letter had not clearly said that it was made on behalf of the UK.
However, a later communication from the Scottish Government clarified that Scottish Ministers were exercising UK statutory functions and were seeking consent on behalf of the United Kingdom.
The High Court held that this clarification was sufficient. Objectively, the request was therefore one in writing from the issuing state.
The judgment resolved only that threshold issue. Questions concerning Albania, including prison conditions, mental health and whether consent to onward extradition should ultimately be given, remained for determination.