Rights of crime victims in cross-border transfers Table 14: EU Member States that have procedures to inform victims Transfer of prisoners Probation and alternative sanctions European Supervision Order (ESO) Procedure established in law CZ, PL, UK CZ, PL CZ, PL Procedure established in practice CY, SI CY, SI SI Source: FRA, 2015 Table 15: Member States that provide information at a victim’s request Transfer of prisoners Probation and alternative sanctions European Supervision Order (ESO) Provided in law BE, CZ, PL, UK BE, CZ, PL CZ, PL Provided in practice CY, FI, IE, NL, SE, SI, SK CY, FI, IE, NL, SI, SK NL, SI Source: FRA, 2015 person is released from remand and alternative supervision measures are employed – particularly because the ESO relates to pending criminal proceedings. However, it should be remembered that only supervision measures are transferred abroad – the criminal proceedings would still be pending in the state in which the crime was committed, and the suspect would be required to appear in court there. In the context of the Framework Decision on transfer of prisoners, victims’ right to information kicks in when a sentenced person is transferred to another Member State and then released on parole in accordance with the law of that state, or escapes from detention. The Victims’ Right Directive establishes that Member States will protect victims and their families from secondary and repeat victimisation.331 This will be further explored in the following sections. 7.2. Implementation and promising practices This section looks at how EU Member States take victims and their rights into account in their implementation of the Framework Decisions. It outlines the right of crime victims to be informed about transfers of sentenced and convicted persons, looking at their role in the process and at when and how they are informed, if at all. The accompanying charts highlight the more common practices in EU Members States and the varying levels of victim involvement provided for in implementations of the different Framework Decisions. As stated in Chapter 1, while reading the summary of findings, it should be noted that not all Member States had implemented all three Framework Decisions at the time of data collection. FRA’s research shows that while it is not common for Member States to include victims in legislation implementing the three Framework Decisions, some states take victims into consideration and keep them informed when organising and making decisions on transfers. Table 14 provides an overview per Framework Decision. Member States that have established procedures in law for providing victims with information include the Czech Republic, Poland (under all three Framework Decisions) and the United Kingdom (under the Framework Decision on transfer of prisoners). Similarly, Slovenia (under all three Framework Decisions) and Cyprus (under the Framework Decision on transfer of prisoners and the Framework Decision on probation and alternative sanctions) have established such procedures in practice. Some EU Member States take on a facilitator’s role and provide information to victims when it is directly requested. Table 15 provides an overview by Framework Decision. Four Member States provide for this in law (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the United Kingdom), while in practice, authorities in seven Member States (Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden) also respond to requests for information about transfers of suspected or sentenced persons – depending on certain conditions, which are explored in the next section. 331 Victims’ Rights Directive, Art. 18 (1). 101