CJEU ruling in case of convicted Romanian: Disproportionate sentence alone does not justify refusal of surrender

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), based in Luxembourg, has ruled that a sentence deemed disproportionate to the seriousness of the offence does not, in itself, justify refusing to execute a European arrest warrant, a press release issued by the institution on Tuesday informs, noting that refusal is possible only in exceptional circumstances, where there are serious deficiencies in the legislation or judicial practice of the issuing state that could lead to a violation of fundamental rights.The ruling was delivered in a case concerning a man who was sentenced to a final seven-year prison term in Romania for bringing three grams of cannabis and four MDMA pills into the country. The man challenged his surrender to the Romanian authorities, arguing that the sentence was disproportionate. The Dutch court tasked with executing the warrant pointed out that, in the Netherlands, a comparable offence would carry a prison sentence of between one and three weeks.The CJEU reiterated that the execution of European arrest warrants is the rule, based on the principles of mutual trust and mutual recognition between Member States, and that refusal is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. To justify such a refusal, the judicial authority must first establish that there are systemic or generalised deficiencies in the issuing state and then determine whether the person concerned faces a real and specific risk of having their fundamental rights violated.The Court clarified that differences between the penalties prescribed by the laws of Member States, even when substantial, do not in themselves demonstrate the existence of such deficiencies. Reviewing the proportionality of each sentence against the legislation of the state executing the warrant would run counter to the principle of mutual trust.The CJEU specified that refusal to surrender a person may be justified only if the legislation or judicial practice of the issuing state manifestly and seriously violates the principle of proportionality of penalties, and the violation cannot be remedied through an effective legal remedy. Circumstances that could justify refusal include cases in which the law prescribes penalties so severe that they amount to inhuman or degrading treatment, or does not allow courts to take into account the seriousness of the offence and the individual circumstances of the case.In the case under consideration, the CJEU found that Romanian legislation did not exhibit such deficiencies. The Court stated that the minimum seven-year sentence for importing high-risk drugs was not, in itself, inhuman or degrading, and that Romanian law allows sentences to be individualised according to the circumstances of each case. The convicted person had also had the opportunity to challenge the ruling on appeal and further appeal.Consequently, the Court concluded that, in this case, Romanian legislation provided no grounds for refusing to execute the European arrest warrant.