Paul of Romania and his wife Lia (photo archive), photo: Hotnews / DP
The justice in France will have to pronounce a new decision on the extradition of Paul Philip of Romania, known as Prince Paul, after the Court of Cassation, the highest French court, annulled the decision that blocks his extradition to Romania, says judicial sources consulted on Thursday by the France Presse Agency.
The extraction chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal had appreciated on July 9 that the second European arrest warrant issued by the Romanian authorities on behalf of the 76 -year -old man has a “disproportionate character”.
The decision of the Court of Cassation on Wednesday, to which he had AFP access, emphasizes that the appreciation of a European mandate is exclusively by the authority of the issuing state, not that of the country to which he is asked to implement it, reports Agerpres citing France Presse.
The Supreme Court in France also notes that the Court of Appeal did not specify what fundamental right would violate the execution of the mandate.
Another complete of the extradition chamber will therefore have to review the file.
Repeated requests of extradition
Romania presented a first arrest warrant for Paul of Romania in December 2020, shortly after he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for influence and complicity trafficking, in a file in which 18 convictions were pronounced and it was estimated that the Romanian state suffered a damage of 145 million euros.
The Paris Court of Appeal rejected the request for extradition on the basis of this mandate in November 2023, considering that the right to a fair trial in relation to two of the three Romanian judges involved.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJUE) considered that the refusal of France “contravenes the principle of mutual trust” between the European countries and that the French justice has exercised “excessive control” of the functioning of the judicial system in Romania.
Following the CJEU, Romania made a new extradition request in January this year.
France refuses to extradite the fugitive Paul of Romania, sentenced to prison in the Farma Băneasa file and followed for three years.
How Paul de Paul de Romania defies the authorities in Bucharest, who have been trying to bring him to the country for two years. Interview in the French press
