A letter from Frank Symeou on the European Arrest Warrant

Andrew's mother and sister

Dear all,

Back in 2007 our son Andrew was torn from his home and university studies in the UK and sent to a Greek prison. Andrew faced charges of manslaughter, following the tragic death of another young man in a nightclub on the Greek island of Zante. Despite compelling evidence of mistaken identity and the use of police brutality to obtain any evidence, British courts were powerless to stop my son’s extradition.

Once surrendered to Greece in handcuffs, Andrew was denied bail and spent almost a year in cockroach-infested, overcrowded prison cells with convicted murdered and rapists, while he awaited trial. My son spent his 21st birthday behind bars in appalling prison conditions and my family were powerless to help him, as we spoke to him through the glass. It was heartbreaking for my wife and I to see Andrew in prison. What he endured there will stay with him for the rest of his life.

If it had not been for the support of Fair Trials International and our friends and family, I am not sure how we could have continued Andrew’s fight for justice. Andrew was finally acquitted last week by the Greek courts; four years after the events in question. We can now start rebuilding our lives and hopefully return to some kind of normality.

Unfortunately, what my son went through is not unique: thousands of people are extradited under Europe’s fast-track extradition system, the European Arrest Warrant, each year. Earlier in the year I gave evidence before the Joint Committee on Human Rights along with several other clients of Fair Trial International clients, who have now become friends, to give the real story of European extradition. I wanted politicians to hear directly how inappropriate use of the European Arrest Warrant destroys lives. I welcome that the Committee’s report calls for wide-ranging reform of the UK’s extradition arrangements. People should simply not be extradited when there are serious human rights concerns and when a country is not trial ready.

I do not want anyone else to go through the ordeal my son had had to, but I fear unless the Government heeds the call of the Committee and renegotiates the European Arrest Warrant, my son will not be the last victim of a flawed extradition system.

Yours faithfully,

Frank Symeou