🇮🇹 Italy →

The case concerned a person held in custody in Italy pending extradition proceedings before the Court of Appeal of Bologna. The defence sought revocation or substitution of the custodial measure, arguing that the requested person’s health conditions were incompatible with prison detention. The Court of Appeal rejected the application, relying on the continuing risk of flight and on a prison medical report which considered detention compatible with the person’s health, without ordering an independent expert assessment. The Italian Supreme Court annulled that decision. It held that, where an application for revocation or replacement of custody is based on alleged incompatibility between the person’s health conditions and prison detention, the court must order medical assessments in expert form unless the alleged incompatibility is unsupported by adequate justification or the situation is clearly compatible with detention. That was not the case here. The prison medical report did not provide a stable and conclusive clinical picture, referred to the need for constant monitoring, and did not clarify whether the necessary diagnostic and therapeutic measures could be adequately and promptly provided within the prison system or in a prison medical facility. Only after such assessment could the court properly evaluate the continuing need for custody, the concreteness of the risk of flight, and the possible adequacy of less restrictive alternative measures. The order was therefore annulled with remand for a fresh assessment.

The Court of Appeal may rely on the guarantees provided by the issuing State, which clarified that the requested person: (a) will receive medical assistance within the penitentiary facility; (b) may, if necessary, be permanently admitted to the prison infirmary; (c) will be provided with pharmacological treatment and psychological support; and (d) may, if necessary, be placed in a cell under video surveillance. The Court also drew the requesting State’s attention to the need to put in place effective safeguards and monitoring measures to protect the requested person’s health, including by considering the possibility of alternatives to custodial detention.