On 10 March 2023, the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe (Germany) declared extradition of a person from Germany to the UK as “currently inadmissible” due to the lack of guarantees for the person’s protection of fundamental rights. The decision in an unofficial English translation can be found here.

The requested person’s defence council Dr. Jan-Carl Janssen put forward objections against extradition with regard to the prison conditions in the UK and a possible violation of Art. 3 ECHR. By also referring to a 2021 CPT report, the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe posed several specific questions to the UK authorities with regard to prison conditions to be expected of the prosecuted person after his extradition in the UK. The court requested from the UK binding guarantees that human rights will be respected under international law pursuant to Art. 604 lit. a) and c) of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreeement (→ eucrim 1/2020, 265-271). UK authorities, however, replied rather unspecifically to the questions posed and could not fully discard the substantiated objections raised by the requested person.

The Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe decided that “it cannot currently be assumed with sufficient certainty that the prosecuted person would receive humane conditions of detention there in the case of his extradition to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.” The TCA-extradition warrant was revoked. The immediate release of the requested person who was in the prison of Freiburg i.Br., Germany, was ordered.