FRANCE DROPS DEBORAH DARK ARREST WARRANT

THE GUARDIAN - MARK TRAN

Briton detained on drugs charges in 1989 and found guilty on appeal a year later was wanted on European warrant.

France has dropped an arrest warrant for a British woman detained in 1989 on drug-related charges in a case that exposes the shortcomings of the EU's fast-track extradition system, human rights groups said today.

Deborah Dark, 46, was arrested in France on drug-related offences and held for eight months pending trial. The French court found her not guilty of all her charges and she was released, but the French court of appeal overturned the original verdict without her knowledge in 1990, sentencing her to six years in prison. In 2005, the French authorities issued a European arrest warrant for Dark to be extradited to serve her sentence.

Fair Trials International says the case of Dark and others such as the football fan Garry Mann highlights the injustices of the European arrest warrant system with its fast-track extradition.

But according to Fair Trials International, people from all across Europe are being sent to other EU member states over minor offences or to serve prison sentences imposed after unfair trials.

"We are delighted that, 23 years after a French court first acquitted her, Deborah Dark is finally a free woman," said Jago Russell, the chief executive of Fair Trials International.

"She should not, though, have been put through this horrendous ordeal.

"Europe's fast-track extradition system must be reformed so countries are required to remove warrants when European courts have concluded that extradition would be unjust."