Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
B e f o r e:
MR JUSTICE COLLINS
Between:
THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF KARAHOJEVS
Claimant
v
PROSECUTORS GENERALS OFFICE LATVIA
Defendant
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The Claimant was not represented
The Defendant was not represented
J U D G M E N T
MR JUSTICE COLLINS: This is an appeal under section 26 of the Extradition Act against a decision of the District Judge which directed the appellant's removal to Latvia in respect of a European Arrest Warrant. The issue raised before the District Judge, and the only issue raised, was what I may call the Assange point. That is to say, the assertion that the request through the Prosecutor General's Office was not a request by a judicial authority.
The decision in the Magistrates' Court preceded the final decision of the Supreme Court in Assange and in fact decided in the way that the Supreme Court eventually decided. Since that is the only ground which has been relied on, it is clear that there can be no merit any more in this appeal and it must therefore be dismissed.
I should say that the information before the court was that the appellant's representatives were going to see him on, I think, Thursday or Friday of last week and would notify the court whether the appeal was to be withdrawn. Whether or not the court has been so notified, it is clear that the appeal cannot, in the circumstances, be allowed. Accordingly, I dismiss it.