→ 🇭🇷 Croatia

Criminal records and pending proceedings, being inconsistent with the aim of social and occupational reintegration of the requested person, do not constitute factual elements capable of establishing the existence of a stable and non-temporary territorial integration in the State. The circumstances put forward by the person concerned — who, at the validation hearing, stated that he had been living in Italy for more than twenty years, that he had been cohabiting with his partner and her children for more than two years, and that he worked as a builder and gardener without a contract — amount to mere verbal assertions unsupported by evidence. The information derived from the fingerprint records can at most indicate the individual’s choice to identify the national territory as the center of his criminal activities, but not to prove effective integration, which, insofar as it is relevant for the recognition of the sentence for enforcement in Italy, implies adherence to socially shared values.

The case concerned a Croatian request for extradition from Italy for prosecution in relation to offences also broadly connected to criminal proceedings pending in Italy. The Court of Appeal of Bologna held that the conditions for extradition were met. It found that the request was supported by the required documentation, that the offences were punishable in both States, and that no grounds existed to believe that the requested person would face persecution, discrimination, inhuman or degrading treatment, or proceedings incompatible with fundamental rights. The Court also considered the existence of Italian proceedings concerning analogous facts. It held that those proceedings did not bar extradition because the facts were not fully identical to those underlying the foreign request. However, the Court specified that the execution of extradition would take place only after the conclusion of the pending Italian proceedings and after any sentence imposed in Italy had been served. Extradition was therefore granted, with surrender deferred until completion of the domestic case.