Bulgaria

The requested person challenged an Italian appellate judgment authorising surrender to Bulgaria under a European Arrest Warrant issued for the enforcement of a sentence relating to bodily injury. The appeal relied, first, on the requested person’s alleged family and social integration in Italy and, second, on the risk of inhuman or degrading detention conditions in Bulgaria. The Court held that the five-year period of lawful and continuous residence or stay required by Italian law is a mandatory prerequisite for the optional ground for refusal based on residence, and that the presence of minor children does not by itself preclude surrender where another parent is able to care for them. It further held that the Aranyosi and Căldăraru mechanism is triggered only where the defence produces objective, reliable, specific and duly updated material demonstrating a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment; generic references to prison overcrowding and an outdated CPT statement were insufficient. The appeal was therefore declared inadmissible and the surrender decision remained in force.

In the context of a European Arrest Warrant, when deciding on a refusal of surrender based on the requested person’s stable integration within the national territory, the Court of Appeal is required—on pain of nullity—to specify in a detailed and reasoned manner the relevant statutory indicators and the corresponding assessment criteria. Accordingly, the failure to assess even one of these indicators constitutes a violation of law subject to review by the Court of Cassation.

The case concerned an extradition request submitted by the Republic of Bulgaria against a Bulgarian national convicted of intentional homicide. According to the extradition materials, Bulgarian judicial authorities alleged that the requested person intentionally killed another Bulgarian citizen on 6 May 2003. The requested person was convicted and sentenced to aggravated imprisonment for 18 years following appellate review before Bulgarian courts. The conviction became final after review by the Bulgarian Supreme Court. After leaving Bulgaria, the requested person became internationally wanted through an Interpol Red Notice.Following apprehension in Türkiye, Bulgarian authorities transmitted an extradition request through the Turkish Ministry of Justice pursuant to the European Convention on Extradition.The Heavy Penal Court found the extradition request admissible.The defence appealed.During appellate review, Law No. 6706 on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters entered into force and repealed former Article 18 TCK.The Turkish Court of Cassation held that:- the legislative amendment did not materially alter the requested person’s legal position;- extradition conditions remained satisfied under the new law;- the extradition request complied with: Law No. 6706; the European Convention on Extradition; the European Convention on Human Rights.The Court therefore corrected the legal basis of the judgment by replacing the reference to former Article 18 TCK with Law No. 6706 and upheld the extradition admissibility decision.