inform the person being questioned beforehand.37 There are no guidelines on mandatory recording of hearings concerning vulnerable persons. Although the recording of interviews is quite common, the decision to do so remains with the investigating judge. • Deprivation of liberty In general, the authorities must always consider the principle of proportionality when deciding upon deprivation of liberty as this obligation derives from the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. The provisions of the CCMMSEUA regarding the ordering of detention indicate that the same must be done when ordering detention in EAW proceedings. For the purpose of successfully conducting surrender proceedings against a requested person, and provided that the circumstances exist which indicate that there is a risk of the requested person absconding, the investigating judge decides, on the basis of a decision issued by the ordering judicial authority, or a motion of a competent state prosecutor, whether to order detention of the requested person or any of the other measures to ensure that the person attends proceedings, all by applying, mutatis mutandis, the provisions of the Act regulating criminal procedure.38 However, lawyers report that detention is almost always ordered when the concerned person is a foreign national and that alternatives are not duly considered as it is assumed that a person with no significant ties to Slovenia is a flight risk.39 Absence of case-law No case-law regarding cases in Slovenia concerning persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities where an EAW was refused on fundamental rights grounds could be identified. None were reported by our interviewees. This absence of case-law is also reflected in the European Commission’s statistical data for 2021: 37 Article 84 of the Criminal Procedure Act (Zakon o kazenskem postopku), 29 September 1994. Article 24(12) of the Cooperation in Criminal Matters with the Member States of the European Union Act (Zakon o sodelovanju v kazenskih zadevah z državami članicami Evropske unije), 23 May 2013. 39 Vučko K., Thaler I. (2021), Vodnik: Sistemi odpovedi pravici do sojenja v Sloveniji, Ljubljana, Mirovni inštitut, p. 38. 15 38