GARRY MANN TO BE EXTRADITED WEDNESDAY 12TH MAY

For Immedaite Release

Garry Mann (a former fire fighter and father of six from Kent) will be extradited tomorrow, 12 May 2010 at 4:20 pm from Heathrow Airport, Terminal 1 (TAP Air Portugal). Garry will be flown first to Lisbon and then transferred to a yet undisclosed prison to serve a 2 year prison sentence imposed after a grossly unfair trial in Portugal.

Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials International, said:
“Garry Mann’s trial in Portugal was a travesty of justice. The UK’s decision to extradite him is an outrage. Politicians in the UK and Europe must now wake up to the injustice of Europe’s fast track extradition system and reform it before countless others suffer the same fate as Garry.”

Garry Mann said:
“I have been let down by the politicians that agreed to the UK’s rigid extradition laws and the European arrest warrant and the judges who no longer seem willing to stand up for justice . This was supposed to have been for terrorists implemented after the 9/11 attack but, for some reason, I have been caught in its net. I am not the first victim of this system and, until it’s reformed, I won’t be the last."

Garry’s trial in Portugal saw him arrested, tried and convicted in the space of 48 hours. A British police officer present at the trial described it as a “farce” and the UK courts have repeatedly recognised the serious injustice in his case. In March the High Court said that if Mann is extradited it would be an “embarrassment for everybody” but, at that time, said it was powerless stop it. His extradition has been fought in the UK Courts which, despite recognising the injustice in his case, have said they were powerless to stop it. Fair Trials International will now fight Garry’s case in the European Court of Human Rights and will work to get him home to the UK as soon as possible.

For more information please contact Fair Trials International on +44 (0)20 7822 2370 or +44 (0)7950 849 851

Notes to Editors

1. Unfair Trial in Portugal
   · Garry Mann, a 52-year-old former fireman from Kent, attended the Euro 2004 football tournament in Portugal. While Garry Mann was spending the night with friends in a bar in Albufeira, a riot took place in a nearby street. Garry Mann was arrested on 15 June 2004. Garry was arrested, tried and convicted all in the space of 48 hours. A British police officer at the trial has described the proceedings as a “farce”. Garry had only five minutes with his lawyer before the trial and did not know what he was charged with until after he was convicted. He was unable to understand the proceedings due to the poor quality of interpretation: the interpreter was a local hairdresser and a friend of the judge’s wife. On 18 June 2004, Garry consented to his deportation to the UK after reportedly being told by the Portuguese authorities that the sentence would not be carried out if he agreed to voluntary deportation.
    
2. British Courts Confirm Violation of Fair Trial Rights
   · Upon his return to the UK, the Chief of Metropolitan Police applied for a worldwide football banning order to prevent Garry from travelling abroad to attend football matches. On 3 August 2005, Justice Stephen Day refused to grant the order, concluding Garry’s trial could not be relied on as it was “so unfair as to be incompatible with the respondents’ right to a fair trial.”
    
3. Extradition request
   · On 6 October 2008, more than four years later, British police arrested Mann under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Portugal. His extradition was ordered by the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 August 2009. Garry’s former legal team missed the deadline for filing the appeal against extradition by a few hours, making it impossible for him to challenge the extradition decision. Garry has no right to appeal against his unsafe conviction in Portugal; if he is extradited he will be sent to prison to serve a 2 year sentence.
    
4. Previous Challenges in UK Courts
   · Garry’s new legal team has made a number of challenges to the extradition. Two of these were refused by the High Court on 19 January. Lord Justice Moses stated in his judgment that he could not “leave this application without remarking upon the inability of this court to rectify what appears to be a serious injustice to Mr Mann”. On 26 March 2010 the High Court refused to consider Garry’s final legal challenge in the UK courts. Lord Justice Moses considered that new evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office "lends force to his belief that a serious injustice" had been committed against Mr Mann. He said “I cannot believe anybody wants this man to go and do 2 years in Albufeira Jail. It is just an embarrassment for everybody, this whole case, and it ought to disappear.” Again, the court requested that a diplomatic solution is sought: "If there was a case for mediation or grown up people getting their heads together then this is it." The High Court denied Garry’s final legal challenge in the UK courts on Friday, 7 May 2010.
    
5. European Court of Human Rights Refuses to Stop Extradition
   · Two emergency applications were to the European Court of Human Rights on 30 March 2010 requesting an injunction to prevent the extradition until the European Court had considered Garry’s treatment in the Portuguese and UK courts. These applications were rejected by the European Court of Human Rights on April 27 2010. Fair Trials International will continue the fight in the European Court against Garry’s unfair trial in Portugal and his treatment by the British courts. A decision on these cases could, however, take years.
    
6. Diplomatic Inaction
   · After writing to the Foreign Secretary in January, Fair Trials International met with the Foreign Office to seek a diplomatic solution to Garry’s predicament. The Foreign Office subsequently wrote to the Portuguese authorities to bring Garry’s case to their attention. Despite a number of subsequent requests from Fair Trials International, the Portuguese Government has failed to respond to requests for them to assist in preventing Garry’s extradition.
    
7. The European Arrest Warrant
   · 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:
   
   o 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).
   o There is a very real risk that the person concerned will not receive a fair trial.
   o The prosecution is based on a flawed police investigation, even where it involves mistreatment.
   o Extradition would be grossly disproportionate to the offence allegedly committed.
   o 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)