Latvia

Latvia sought the requested person’s surrender under an execution EAW to serve the remainder of an eleven-year custodial sentence. The District Court of Amsterdam reiterated that detainees in Latvia face a general real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment arising from the informal prison caste system, including inter-prisoner violence and the degrading treatment of prisoners belonging to the lowest caste. The information provided by the Latvian authorities did not establish with sufficient certainty where the requested person would ultimately be detained or identify the concrete individual measures that would protect him from violence and the other adverse effects of the caste system. The Court therefore reopened and suspended the proceedings and requested further information concerning the likely place of detention and the specific protective measures to be implemented.

European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and risk of inhuman or degrading treatment: the assessment carried out by the Court of Appeal cannot be based on generic assurances of compliance with legal provisions and absence of risk, as expressed in the communication sent by the Latvian authorities. While, as a general rule, reliance must be placed on assurances provided by the issuing Member State, it remains possible, in certain circumstances, to establish the existence of a real risk of treatment contrary to the guarantees set out in Article 4 of the Charter, particularly in relation to detention conditions.