UK COURTS’ LAST CHANCE TO STOP GARRY MANN’S EXTRADITION

For Immediate Release

Garry Mann’s final legal challenge against extradition to Portugal is scheduled to be heard tomorrow (Friday 26th March) at 2pm (Court 3, Royal Courts of Justice). If extradited, Garry (a former fireman from Kent) will be forced to serve a 2 year prison sentence imposed by a trial in Portugal which one British court has already concluded was “unfair”.

Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials International, said:
“It would be a gross injustice if Garry is extradited to Portugal to serve a sentence imposed after a manifestly unfair trial. If neither the British Courts nor the British Government step in to prevent this, faith in Europe’s fast-track extradition system will be seriously undermined.”

The High Court rejected previous challenges to Mann’s extradition in January, remarking “upon the inability of this court to rectify what appears to be a serious injustice to Mr Mann”. Lord Justice Moses added that he hoped the “ECHR or the diplomatic authorities in the UK or in Portugal can strive to achieve some measure of justice for Mr Mann, a justice of which he has been so signally deprived by those on whom he had previously relied”. Garry’s legal team has asked for tomorrow’s hearing to be delayed to give the Government more time to deliver a diplomatic solution.

Contact Fair Trials International on 020 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, together with other suspects.
   
   · 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 hairdresser from down the road 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. New evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirms that they, too, shared this view. He was then escorted to the airport by the Portuguese authorities and sent back to the UK without having to serve any time in prison in Portugal.
    
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 him under a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Portuguese Judicial Authorities. His extradition was ordered by the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 August 2009. Garry now has no right to appeal against his unsafe conviction and he will not be granted a new hearing 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 its 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”. He added he hoped the “ECHR or the diplomatic authorities in the UK or in Portugal can strive to achieve some measure of justice for Mr Mann, a justice of which he has been so signally deprived by those on whom he had previously relied”.
   
   · An emergency application was made to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on 21 January 2010, asking for an injunction to prevent the extradition until the ECHR considers his substantial application. The ECHR decided that it would consider the application after all UK legal challenges had been exhausted.
    
5. Diplomatic Solution
   · 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 two subsequent letters from Fair Trials International, the Portuguese Government has not yet responded to requests for them to assist in preventing Garry’s extradition.
    
6. Tomorrow’s Hearing
   · The final legal challenge in the UK courts is scheduled to be heard tomorrow. It is argued that the British Courts should stop Garry’s extradition until the European Court of Human Rights has had the opportunity to decide whether Garry’s conviction was fair. Garry’s legal team has also requested for the hearing to be adjourned to give the UK and Portuguese Governments an opportunity to reach a diplomatic solution.