The High Court ruled that a stay on the surrender of Zanas Dzuigas to Lithuania remained in force after he sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. In a judgment delivered on 10 May 2018, Ms Justice Donnelly found that his application had been lodged on 9 March, despite being stamped by the Supreme Court office as received on 12 March. She also fixed 20 May 2018 as the surrender date.
The court had allowed 15 days from its 23 February order for the application to be lodged to keep the stay in effect. The Supreme Court refused leave to appeal on 4 May. The Minister for Justice sought a new surrender date, saying arrangements for travel by sea and land required permissions to pass through four other countries and could not be completed within the ensuing 10 days.
During the hearing, Dzuigas applied under Article 40.4.2 of the Constitution for release, arguing that the time for surrender had expired and that his detention was unlawful. The court examined whether the leave application had been lodged by 9 March, the deadline under the stay. His solicitor gave evidence that he presented four copies at the Supreme Court office that day, but staff rejected them as incorrectly completed. He later emailed a copy and received an email acknowledgement. The papers were stamped as received on 12 March.
Justice Donnelly found that the application in its final form had been presented to and considered by a staff member on 9 March, then wrongly rejected. She accepted that the emailed copy was the same application and that the office acknowledged it that day. In the circumstances, she held that it was lodged in time and the stay continued. She concluded that Dzuigas was detained in accordance with law and refused his request for release.
The court accepted the parties’ interpretation that the February stay applied to the 10-day surrender period following the Supreme Court’s decision. It then considered the Minister’s request to extend that period. Dzuigas’s counsel argued that the legal test required circumstances beyond the control of a Member State and that the request did not establish this.
The judge found that the Lithuanian authority’s request and the transport details showed that the delay was beyond Lithuania’s control. The journey would take eight days round trip, involve ferry travel, and require permission to transport Dzuigas through four foreign countries. The court therefore fixed 20 May 2018 as the date for surrender to Lithuania.