Renewed call to scrap arrest warrant

The miscarriage of justice suffered by 20-year-old Andrew Symeou, from London, has led the UK Independence Party to reapeat its call to scrap European Arrest Warrants.

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "That Andrew Symeou is confined to a tiny, flea-ridden cell with five other prisoners in a Greek prison is a disgrace.

"The interview with his father Frank, in the Sunday Times, made for harrowing reading . His situation is not only horrendous, it was completely avoidable.

"And although there are serious questions about the quality of police evidence against Andrew, the blame for his predicament rests fully on the shoulders of Gordon Brown and his Government who meekly adopted the EU arrest warrant system, or as I like to call it, 'Extradition for Dummies'.

"In a bid to play 'Good Europeans', the Labour Government has signed up to a fast-track extradition system that puts the EU interests first and the rights of all citizens a distant second.

"Under this system, the police of any EU member country simply take whatever flimsy case they have to a local court, ask the magistrate to sign his approval and a warrant for arrest of the individual is issued, despite the fact that he or she may be the national of another country.

"Without any rigorous checking of the facts in the case, and with pressure on police to put someone in the frame for a serious offence, we end up with innocent men like Andrew Symeou summarily extradited and held indeterminately until the Greek court system gets round to dealing with him.

"It is not only a gross miscarriage of justice, it is a gross infringement on his rights as a British citizen. We need to abandon this ridiculous European Arrest Warrant system immediately and UKIP will continue to push the UK government to do so."

Symeou was extradited from the UK to Greece last week to face a murder charge following the death of a 18-year-old Jonathan Hiles in a Zante nightclub in 2007.

Liberty condemn High Court extradition decision

(London, 1 May 2009), Today, the High Court ruled that the extradition of Andrew Symeou must go ahead. Andrew Symeou, a young British man accused of manslaughter, is facing extradition to Greece under a European Arrest Warrant without a British court ever considering the evidence in his case.

The evidence includes statements given by two of his friends while under duress from Greek police officers who reportedly beat them and withheld food and drink - statements which were immediately retracted after the two were released. There are also strong indications that Zante police officers falsified evidence, and witness reports that Andrew was not at the club until 3 hours later have been ignored.

Sabina Frediani, Campaigns Co-ordinator for Liberty, said;

“This alarming case highlights the dangers of summary extradition. No one should be sent anywhere, be it Europe, the US or elsewhere, without a case first being made in a local court - British justice should not be circumvented in this way. Extradition Watch, our new campaign, seeks to pressure Government to stop extradition without safeguards.”

Liberty believes a person should not be extradited to stand trial in a foreign country without evidence being presented to a British court to prove there is a prima facie case against them. If the crime is alleged to have occurred in whole or in part in the UK, then the defendant should not be extradited if a British judge considers the offence should be tried in the United Kingdom.