Antonio Stefanel Nita v Romania
[2024] EWHC 408 (Admin)
Ionut Victor Chelu v Romanian Judicial Authority
21 February 2024
[2024] EWHC 337 (Admin)
High Court
A Romanian man living in the UK is wanted for driving offences. A judge ruled that he illegally left Romania to avoid facing charges, meaning that his rights to family life don't outweigh the public interest in sending him back to Romania to face trial. The judge also rejected new evidence about a child born after the initial hearing.
Key Facts
- •Ionut Victor Chelu (Appellant), aged 33, is wanted for extradition to Romania for two driving offences committed in 2016 and 2017.
- •The offences resulted in an aggregated sentence of 10 months and 20 days.
- •The Appellant was arrested in the UK in November 2021 and has been on bail since.
- •The Appellant claims he came to the UK in August 2018, but evidence suggests he may have left Romania after March 2019.
- •The Appellant's Article 8 rights (private and family life) are challenged due to his partner and children residing in the UK.
- •The Romanian Judicial Authority (Respondent) successfully appealed an earlier discharge of one of the offences.
Legal Principles
Article 8 ECHR (right to respect for private and family life)
European Convention on Human Rights
Fugitivity
Extradition Law
Proportionality in extradition cases
Extradition Law
Necessary conversion of alcohol limits for extradition purposes
Czech Republic v Kolman [2017] EWHC 302 (Admin)
Outcomes
Permission to appeal refused.
The court found the Appellant's challenge to the fugitivity finding and his standalone Article 8 argument lacked reasonable arguability. The public interest in extradition outweighed the Article 8 rights of the Appellant and his family.
Permission to rely on fresh evidence refused.
The fresh evidence, while relevant to the Article 8 proportionality assessment, did not alter the court's decision on the principal issues of fugitivity and proportionality.