The High Court has ordered Jaroslaw Tomasz Klepacz’s surrender to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant, after rejecting his claim that he faced a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in prison.
In a judgment delivered on 15 August 2024, Mr Justice David Keane found that the evidence did not establish substantial or reasonable grounds to believe Klepacz would face that risk if returned. The warrant, issued by the Circuit Court of Zielona Góra on 16 May 2024, seeks his surrender to serve 10 months and 20 days remaining on a 15-month sentence imposed in May 2023 for breaching a restraining order and assault.
Klepacz’s affidavit said he had spent about six months on remand in Poland. He described sharing a cell for up to 23 hours a day, limited shower access, poor hygiene and food, and said he attempted suicide twice before being moved to a single cell. He said he feared similar conditions if imprisoned again. He did not identify the prison where he had been held or provide medical evidence of harm to his health.
The Polish issuing authority told the court that, if transferred by air, Klepacz would first be held at a temporary custody facility in the Warsaw area, identified as Areszt Śledczy w Warszawie-Białołęce. It said this period would last no longer than 14 days, after which a penitentiary commission would select the prison where he would serve his sentence. The authority stated that Polish law requires at least three square metres of floor area per prisoner.
Justice Keane said there was little specific evidence about conditions in the facilities where Klepacz would be held. The court found that the reports relied on by Klepacz either concerned other establishments or described conditions from 2018 and 2019. The judge was not persuaded that the material showed a real risk in the identified temporary facility or a prison yet to be selected, and rejected the objection under section 37 of the European Arrest Warrant Act.
The judge also found that the warrant and other necessary proofs were in order. The court concluded that the offences corresponded to offences under Irish law and that the sentence met the statutory threshold for surrender. It therefore directed Klepacz’s surrender to a person authorised by Poland to receive him.