On 25 August 2020, in the case of Greece v AS, George’s client was discharged on the EAW he faced on Article 3 grounds due to the Greek judicial authority failing to provide adequate assurances regarding the prison/s that the requested person would be sent back to. The Greek judicial authority had sought an adjournment to obtain the information but this was opposed by George on the basis that it had had plenty of time already. District Judge Ezzat, a specialist Extradition Judge at Westminster Magistrate’s Court, agreed and AS, an Albanian national, was discharged and released from all bail conditions.
A directly analogous situation arose in a different case at the same Court on 4 September 2020: In Greece v RK, the advocate for the Greek judicial authority also requested more time which was opposed by George on the client’s behalf. This time the Deputy Chief Magistrate of England and Wales presided and agreed with George that Greece had had long enough, again the client, this time an Irish national, was discharged and released.
In both cases, expert evidence from Greek lawyers had been obtained and critical reliance had also been placed on the key High Court authority of Marku v Greece [2016] EWHC 1801 (Admin) as well as the recent C.P.T. Report on Greek prisons.
George was instructed by Magdalena Motyl of Bark & Co Solicitors in the case of Greece v RK and by Russell Nicholson of Tuckers Solicitors in the case of Greece v AS.