The High Court has ordered the surrender of Ionuţ-Toni Tulbure to Romania to serve a two-year prison sentence, after rejecting three objections to the request.
In a judgment delivered on 4 May 2021, Mr Justice Paul Burns found that surrender was not prohibited under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. The warrant sought enforcement of a sentence imposed in Romania on 4 December 2015, with the full term remaining to be served.
The warrant concerned three offences described as “outrage”. It said that on 14 December 2014, police attending a bar to execute a warrant against Mr Tulbure’s brother restrained the brother. Mr Tulbure then allegedly raised a metal chair and threatened to kill three officers unless they released him. The judgment records that Mr Tulbure had submitted a defence on the merits before trial. The court found correspondence between the offences and Irish offences of making a threat to kill and/or obstructing a police officer.
Mr Tulbure argued that the warrant did not explain how the two-year term had been calculated. Romanian authorities later clarified that a 15-month sentence for the three offences was combined with a previously suspended nine-month term, which had been revoked after the offences were committed during the probation period. The judge found the additional information sufficient and dismissed this objection.
The respondent also argued that surrender was barred because he had not been present at trial. The warrant indicated both that he had been summoned in person and that he could seek a retrial or appeal de novo after surrender. The issuing authority clarified that he had been summoned at a known address, but had left and could not be located. The judge treated the personal-summons entry as ineffective because it gave no date, but accepted the retrial guarantee. He also found that Mr Tulbure had appeared in person with a lawyer when the original suspended sentence was imposed. The later revocation did not change that sentence’s nature or length, so the judge held that the in-absentia requirements did not apply to the revocation decision.
Finally, Mr Tulbure objected on prison-conditions grounds, relying on reports about Romania and an affidavit from his solicitor. Romanian authorities guaranteed at least three square metres of personal space for the full term, including bed and furniture but excluding toilet space. The court concluded that the information did not establish a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment or otherwise make surrender incompatible with Ireland’s obligations.
Having dismissed all three objections, the High Court ordered surrender to Romania.