Alexander Adamescu and the abuse of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW)

Written declaration No. 622 | Doc. 14245 | 24 January 2017

Signatories:

Lord Richard BALFE, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Tasmina AHMED-SHEIKH, United Kingdom, NR ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Eka BESELIA, Georgia, SOC ; Mr David DAVIES, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Geraint DAVIES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Lady Diana ECCLES, United Kingdom, EC ; Lord George FOULKES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Sir Roger GALE, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Cheryl GILLAN, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Ingebjørg GODSKESEN, Norway, EC ; Ms Nino GOGUADZE, Georgia, EC ; Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Andrzej HALICKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Alfred HEER, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Martin HENRIKSEN, Denmark, EC ; Mr John HOWELL, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Eerik-Niiles KROSS, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Christian LANGBALLE, Denmark, EC ; Ms Kerry McCARTHY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Ian MURRAY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Hermine NAGHDALYAN, Armenia, EC ; Mr Zsolt NÉMETH, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Tom PACKALÉN, Finland, EC ; Mr Virgilijus PODERYS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Alex SALMOND, United Kingdom, NR ; Mr Virendra SHARMA, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Angela SMITH, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Rita TAMAŠUNIENĖ, Lithuania, EC ; Ms Kelly TOLHURST, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Sergiy VLASENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Phil WILSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Morten WOLD, Norway, EC ; Mr Mike WOOD, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.

On 13 June 2016, Mr Alexander Adamescu, a German citizen and writer, was arrested in London on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by the Romanian authorities just before he was due to speak at a public conference about the abuses of the EAW system.

Mr Adamescu is accused of alleged offences of corruption in Romania for which his father Dan Adamescu, a German citizen and businessman, received a prison sentence of four years and four months. Amongst other matters Mr Dan Adamescu is the owner of Romania Libera, a newspaper that has been critical of the Romanian government.

Mr Alexander Adamescu became a target after criticising Romania for the treatment of his father and bringing legal action against the country in front of an international arbitration court. A local arrest warrant was issued on 19 May 2016. The haste of the court and the extremely short time given to deliberation and decision-making leave serious doubts about the possibility for the judge to have seriously analysed the evidence and arguments that were presented to him.

Before the trial of his father took place in May 2014, the then Prime Minister of Romania made a number of statements which prejudged the guilt of Mr Adamescu.

We call on the Parliamentary Assembly to re-affirm its belief that extradition should not be politically motivated and abused in order to silence inconvenient critics and to pre-empt legal action.

We call on the Parliamentary Assembly to affirm its belief in the freedom of speech, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial and the maintenance of human rights, and call on all member States to ensure that these principles are scrupulously observed.