The High Court has ordered Marius Civinskas’s surrender to Lithuania to face prosecution over an alleged murder in Palanga City in 2006, rejecting his sole objection to the request.
In a judgment delivered on 11 June 2020, Mr Justice Paul Burns found that the Lithuanian system met the requirements for effective judicial protection. He accepted information from Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office that Civinskas could appeal the decision to issue the European arrest warrant, without a time limit, and would have legal aid.
The warrant was issued on 28 September 2006 by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Lithuania. It seeks Civinskas’s surrender for prosecution over a single alleged offence of murder, said to have occurred on 3 April 2006 in Palanga City. The judgment says the offence carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.
Civinskas’s counsel argued that a report from Lithuanian lawyer Jelena Smirnova raised doubt about whether an appeal against the warrant was available. He asked the court to seek further information from Lithuania. The Minister for Justice and Equality argued that information already supplied, considered alongside an earlier High Court decision, was sufficient to make the surrender order.
In its reply to the court’s request for information, the Prosecutor General’s Office said Civinskas could appeal both the underlying arrest ruling and the European arrest warrant. It said an appeal against the warrant had no time limit and that legal aid would be provided. An appeal against the arrest ruling would require an application to renew the missed deadline, with reasons given.
Ms Smirnova disagreed with the prosecutor’s answers on the availability and timing of appeals. The judge described her reasoning as drawing an analogy between issuing an arrest warrant and a different pre-trial investigative step, and found that it did not justify another request for information.
The court accepted the Lithuanian authorities’ account on the basis of mutual trust and confidence between member states. It rejected the objection and, being satisfied that surrender was not prohibited under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, ordered surrender under section 16 of the Act.
The judgment records that Civinskas had been in custody since he was brought before the High Court on 17 May 2019. The order concerns surrender to face prosecution; the judgment does not determine his guilt.