BEYOND SATIRE!
Two Romanian crooks slip into Britain. Romania wants them sent back. Our courts refuse because jail cells there are too small. Yep, it’s down to human rights
TWO Romanian fugitives cannot be extradited because jail cells in their homeland are too small.
UK judges say the cramped conditions contravene rulings from the European Court of Human Rights.
The court insists prisoners must ordinarily be allowed ‘personal space’ of around three metres squared.
The Romanians face spending all or most of their sentence housed in a space of two metres squared.
Justices at the High Court in London want assurances that the men would have more space before they grant extradition requests. The ruling has delayed the removal of the pair from Britain – hitting taxpayers with court costs and legal aid bills.
Lord Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Collins were told the Romanians – Ionel-Remus Grecu and Cosmin-Ionut Bagarea – would be sent to semi-open prisons. The jails have smoking zones, unlocked areas for walking, phones and up to ten hours’ visiting a month.
Also on offer are educational and cultural facilities, social assistance and vocational training outside prison.
Grecu, 42, had fled to Britain to dodge serving a jail sentence for membership of a violent burglary gang.
Seven months after his arrest in February last year he lodged an appeal against an extradition order.
Bagarea, 39, was given a suspended prison sentence in January 2012 for
growing cannabis. He broke the terms of his sentence and fled to the UK where he was arrested last September. He is also appealing against extradition. Court papers show both men would be moved to cells of two metres squared in Romania.
Lord Justice Irwin said lawyers for the two men argued the lack of personal space would breach Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
He said it would be ‘highly undesirable if extradition to Romania stalls’. But he said the process had to be put on hold to give the Romanian authorities a chance to guarantee three metres squared for the men. He added: ‘The guarantee would need to be in clear terms, and terms which cover the whole of the anticipated terms of detention.’
The Romanians were represented by a QC specialising in extradition law.
Bagarea’s Hampshire- based halfbrother said the fugitive had been granted legal aid to fight extradition.
George Munteanu also said the philosophy graduate had landed a job pending deportation proceedings.
‘Living in the UK has put him on the right path and changed his life,’ said Mr Munteanu, who came to Britain five years ago. ‘He has a job at Southampton port handling people’s luggage.
‘I think he has got legal aid. I don’t have money to help him and it is quite expensive. He came to the UK about three years ago and he likes it here. He has made a fresh start. I am sure he won’t want to go back to Romania.’ Theresa May has quietly dropped plans for the UK to quit the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights – which is not part of the European Union – until Brexit negotiations are completed.
As home secretary, she had raised concerns about the ECHR after it blocked the Government from expelling the hate preacher Abu Qatada.
The move is expected to maintain the court’s jurisdiction until 2022 – the end of this parliament.
This week the Prime Minister unveiled details of an offer to the 3.2million EU citizens living in the UK, designed to reassure them that their rights will not be threatened. The majority will automatically qualify for a new ‘settled status’ once they have been in Britain for five years, which will guarantee their rights to access public services for life.
But Government sources said that the package would allow officials to identify ‘serious and persistent criminals’ from EU states who would then be considered for deportation.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said he did not expect anyone to be deported ‘unless they’ve committed a crime or [pose] some sort of security problem’.
After the Mail exposed the farce of the Somalian thug Abdi Yusuf, who has been fighting deportation for five years, the Home Office insisted thousands of foreign offenders are kicked out of the country.
It said on Saturday: ‘Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them and we have removed more than 37,000 foreign offenders since 2010.’