Human rights' successes
Mark Smith, a barrister in the 5SAH Extradition Team, secured the discharge of three separate individuals requested on European Arrest Warrants. All were discharged under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The first case involved a requested person who was wanted by Poland for allegedly providing a false statement to police in 2007, but successfully contested extradition on the basis of the support she provides to her husband, who suffers from chronic and debilitating health problems requiring round-the-clock care.Lithuania had requested the second requested person to serve 8 months for a theft in 2002, but had since transformed her life, overcoming long-term drug addiction and severe health problems with the close and mutual support of her partner.The third requested person, represented by Mark, was subject to an extraordinary request from Belgium to serve the remainder of a sentence cut short when the Belgian authorities ordered him to leave the country in 2010. The subsequent 5-year struggle to rejoin his wife in the UK, led the judge to conclude that it would breach of his family rights to be removed again to Belgium.
Mark Smith was instructed by Roland Fletcher Baker and Hayes Law.
