London MEP applauds effectiveness of European Arrest Warrant

8.57.55am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 15th Sep 2005

Baroness Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat Justice spokeswoman in the European Parliament, has welcomed the ruling by the Italian appeals court to extradite to the UK Hussein Osman, a suspect in the attempted London bombings.

This is the second time in 3 months that the European Arrest Warrant scheme has operated to swiftly return people suspected of crimes in London. In June Viktor Dembovskis, suspected of the rape and murder of Wembley teenager Jeshma Raithatha, was also extradited to the UK within weeks after fleeing to his home country of Latvia during the investigation of the case.

Sarah Ludford said:

"The European Arrest Warrant system is proving invaluable in fighting crime by cutting the red tape around extradition and making the return of suspects between EU member states much quicker and easier. No longer will we have the spectacle of criminals languishing smugly for years on the Costa del Crime."

"Since it was implemented in 2004, the average time taken to execute an extradition request has fallen from more than 9 months to 45 days".

"This shows the value of EU cooperation in action, in the fight against all types of crime, including terrorism. The EU is working for Britain and London.

Note

The European Arrest Warrant came into force on 1 January 2004, with the aim of facilitating law enforcement across Europe. It replaced lengthy traditional extradition procedures with a new efficient way of bringing back criminals and suspects who have absconded to another EU country. Sarah Ludford was spokeswoman for the whole European Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament when the measure went through, and was instrumental in its approval.