A citizen of the European Union has been treated in the same way as a Swedish citizen for the purposes of the European Arrest Warrant Act

For the purposes of the ground of refusal of statutory limitation in the European Arrest Warrant Act, a citizen of the European Union shall be treated in the same way as a Swedish citizen. This means that the provision of statutory limitation also applies in relation to other EU citizens.

Poland has issued an arrest warrant for the surrender of a person from Sweden to Poland for the prosecution of five different offences. The requested person is a Polish citizen and lives in Sweden.

The district court decided that surrender should be granted with the condition that a possible sentence would be served in Sweden. The court of appeal did not grant leave to appeal.

The requested person appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted leave to appeal on the question whether he, in applying the provision of statutory limitation in Chapter 2, Section 5 par. 6 of the European Arrest Warrant Act, shall be equated with a Swedish citizen. If that is the case, the provision of statutory limitation will also apply in relation to him.

In light of the case-law of the European Court of Justice in this area, the Supreme Court now makes the assessment that EU citizens should be treated in the same way as Swedish citizens when applying the statutory limitation provisions in the Arrest Warrant Act. This means that the provision of statutory limitation also applies in relation to the requested person.

The review of the Polish arrest warrant will now continue in the court of appeal.

Case no: Ö 8346-22

Updated
2023-06-27