Andrew Symeou refused bail by Greek judge

For Immediate Release

Andrew Symeou (a 20 year old British man from Enfield) was extradited to Greece on 23rd July in connection with a death in a nightclub in Zante in 2007. Andrew has today been refused bail by a Greek judge on the grounds that he has no address in Greece. As a result he faces the prospect of months behind bars awaiting trial.

Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials International, said:

“Despite the major flaws in the case against him, Andrew now faces the prospect of months in a Greek jail before his trial even starts. We will continue to work with his Greek lawyer to fight for bail and to persuade the Greek authorities to end this unfounded prosecution.”

The case against Andrew is built on mistaken identity, conflicting evidence and a flawed police investigation involving violent intimidation of witnesses. Fair Trials International has been assisting the Symeou family in their fight for justice since November 2008. Our focus now will be to persuade the Greek authorities to reconsider the decision to refuse him bail and to drop the charges against Andrew.

Notes to editors

The investigating magistrate on the Greek island of Zante has today denied Andrew Symeou’s application for bail on the grounds that he has no permanent address in Greece. Andrew will be preparing his appeal over the next 5 days. Should his appeal fail, he could spend months in a Greek jail before his trial even starts.

Despite the serious flaws with the case against him (below), the British courts repeatedly refused to stop Andrew Symeou’s extradition and he was extradited to Greece on 23rd July.

Andrew is a 20 year old British man from Enfield in North London. In July 2007, he went on holiday with friends to Zante, Greece. While Andrew was staying in Zante another young British man, Jonathan Hiles, fell off an unguarded stage platform in a night-club, became unconscious and, tragically, died two days later from his head injury. Andrew is accused in of having struck Mr Hiles and caused him to fall. But Andrew is adamant that he was not even in the night-club at the time – and many witnesses have since confirmed this. His extradition is sought by the Greek Judicial Authority.

Two of Andrew’s friends were interviewed by Greek police after Andrew himself had left Zante. (Andrew has never been interviewed by Greek police.) These young men have reported that they were subjected to brutal treatment by the police, who held them for 8 hours without food or water. While in custody they were beaten, punched, slapped and threatened by the officers until they gave statements implicating Andrew in connection with what happened to Mr Hiles. They immediately retracted the statements on their release and informed consular officials about the treatment they received. In recent weeks they have travelled to Zante to explain their treatment to the judge investigating Andrew’s case.

Other serious flaws with the evidence against Andrew include:

• Mistaken identity: Witnesses to the incident describe the attacker as tall and blonde with scarred skin. Andrew is black-haired and had a beard and a moustache;
• No attempt was ever made by the Greek authorities to get a statement from Andrew;
• There is strong evidence that witness statements were manufactured by Zante police. The same police officers were reported as taking statements in two different places at the same time and witnesses gave word-for-word identical statements;
• CCTV footage showing those involved in the incident leaving the nightclub has been deleted and is not available to use in Andrew’s defence;
• Statements given by witnesses to Andrew’s solicitor state that he was not in the nightclub at the time of the incident and only arrived 3 hours after the confrontation.

In recent weeks Andrew’s parents have travelled to Greece to meet with the judge investigating the case to outline the serious issues and problems pertaining to the Zante police investigation. Fair Trials International has also written to the judge to reiterate these concerns and to press her to withdraw the arrest warrant. We have also written in support of the Symeous’ application to the European Court of Human Rights to halt the extradition.

Fair Trials International has serious concerns about this fast-track system for extradition within Europe. In practice, the system has been interpreted as leaving no scope for the British courts to prevent an extradition even where, as in this case, it would lead to clear injustice. In particular the British courts have allowed extraditions under this system where:
 

• the extradition relates to a prison sentence resulting from a grossly unfair trial (even in cases where the defendant has not been informed of the trial);
• there is a very real risk that the person concerned will not receive a fair trial;
• the prosecution is based on a flawed police investigation, even where it involves mistreatment;
• extradition would be grossly disproportionate to the offence allegedly committed; and
• an EAW is issued many years after the alleged offence takes place (in one case we are aware of someone being arrested 20 years after the offence allegedly took place).

Click here to read about other cases of injustice involving the European Arrest Warrant.