Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2010:404
Date: 2010-07-06
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty on European Union (1992)
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in criminal matters;Area of freedom, security and justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment European Union – Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters – Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States – Grounds for optional non-execution of the European arrest warrant (Council Framework Decision 2002/584, Arts 4(6) and 5(1) and (3)) Article 4(6) and 5(3) of Framework Decision 2002/584 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States must be interpreted as meaning that, when the executing Member State concerned has implemented Article 5(1) and Article 5(3) of that framework decision in its domestic legal system, the execution of a European arrest warrant issued for the purposes of execution of a sentence imposed in absentia within the meaning of Article 5(1) of the framework decision may be made subject to the condition that the person concerned, who is a national or resident of the executing Member State, should be returned to the executing Member State in order, as the case may be, to serve there the sentence passed against him, following a new trial arranged in his presence in the issuing Member State. Given that the situation of a person who was sentenced in absentia and to whom it is still open to apply for a retrial is comparable to that of a person who is the subject of a European arrest warrant for the purposes of prosecution, there is no objective reason precluding an executing judicial authority which has applied Article 5(1) of Framework Decision 2002/584 from applying the condition contained in Article 5(3) of that framework decision. (see paras 57, 61, operative part)