Petronel Pal loses Supreme Court appeal against extradition

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Supreme Court dismissed Petronel Pal’s appeal against his surrender to Romania, where he is wanted for prosecution over alleged aggravated murder and the alleged creation of an organised crime group. The proceedings were reported on 28 February 2022.

The High Court had ordered his surrender in April 2020. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal and placed a 14-day stay on the extradition order to allow for a possible Supreme Court appeal. That ruling was reported on 2 June 2021.

The warrant alleges that Pal and others created and belonged to an organised crime group while living in Ireland. It is alleged that Pal and others broke into Virgil Busa’s apartment at Academy Square, Navan, on 10 April 2014 and used extreme violence against him and another Romanian national. Busa died from his injuries on 13 April 2014.

Pal’s lawyers argued that Section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ian Bailey extradition case prevented his surrender. The Minister for Justice opposed the appeal. Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell, giving the unanimous decision of the five-judge Supreme Court, said the provision did not preclude extradition and distinguished the Bailey case.