Lakatos v District Court of Prague, Czech Republic

MR JUSTICE BEAN: The appellant, Mr Lakatos, appeals against an order of the District Judge that he be extradited to the Czech Republic. The European arrest warrant in this case sought his extradition in order to serve the remaining sentence of ten months and 15 days of imprisonment of a sentence of 15 months imposed for six offences of theft. The point taken by the appellant before the District Judge, and again through Mr Keith today before me, is that he says that he has already served his sentence in the Czech Republic and in effect the warrant is in error.

The difficulty is that it is established by authorities such as Asztalos v Hungarian Court and Robert Thompson v the Public Prosecutor of Boulogne that where the European arrest warrant is clear on its face and contains the necessary information, this court is not entitled to go behind the warrant. If Mr Lakatos is right in what he says, the proper forum before whom to raise this point is the District Court at Prague and not this court.

There were other points taken in the notice of appeal, but Mr Keith has sensibly recognised that they could not succeed in this court, quite apart from the fact that they were not raised before the District Judge. So it does not seem to me that anything could be gained from the appellant's point of view by an adjournment, which is what Mr Keith asked me on instructions to do with this appeal.

The point about the sentence having been served was raised fairly and squarely before the District Judge. The District Judge was asked to grant an adjournment but refused. Eight weeks, in round figures, have now passed and there is nothing to suppose that conclusive or convincing proof that the arrest warrant is simply wrong could be obtained in the period of any further adjournment. It follows that I must refuse the adjournment and dismiss the appeal against the District Judge's order.