The request for extradition of Paul of Romania, examined by the Paris Court of Appeal. When will the decision be pronounced

The Paris Court of Appeal examined, Wednesday, a second request for extradition from Bucharest for Paul-Philippe of Romania to execute a prison sentence for influence trafficking, after a first refusal of French justice in 2023. The decision will be pronounced on July 9, writes News.ro citing AFP.

“I am innocent, they used incredible means to dismantle me,” said Paul-Philippe of Romania, known as Paul of Romania, 76 years old.

The Romanian authorities issued a first European arrest warrant in December 2020, one day after being sentenced by the High Court of Cassation of Romania to three years and four months in prison for influence and complicity trafficking.

The descendant of King Carol II, one of the last kings of Romania, is accused of collaborating with a band of fraudsters, since 2006, to recover properties he claimed as heir to the royal family. In this file, 18 persons were convicted, and the damage to the Romanian state was estimated at at least 145 million euros, France Presse shows.

The extradition chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal rejected Romania's request in November 2023, deciding that the right to a fair trial was not respected, given the irregularities in taking the oath by two of the three judges who convicted him. Bucharest issued a new arrest warrant in January, for the same reasons. “Romania really wants this sentence to be executed and it is unusual for a second arrest warrant to be issued after a first refusal,” the sitting president said on Wednesday.

The General lawyer (from the Prosecutor's Office, no) requested the delivery of Paul by Romania, invoking the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) pronounced on July 29, 2024. Notified by Romania with a preliminary decision, CJUE considered that the decision of the Court of Appeal of Paris is “contrary to the principle of mutual confidence” Excessive ”on his judicial system, the sitting president recalled.

“Neither France nor Romania are unknown, we simply respect the principle of the primacy of European justice on national law,” General lawyer insisted. The prince's lawyer, Miriame Laïchi, denounced the “biggest political scandal he ever met a royal family” in relation to the “successor litigation”.

In Malta, where the prince went in April 2024 for an official ceremony, the justice also refused to hand it over to the Romanian authorities. The father of the prince, Carol Mircea Grigore, born in 1920, was one of the sons of Carol II, king of Romania between 1930 and 1940. In 1947, the royal family was expelled from Romania by communists, and its properties were confiscated.