12 Used to investigate people The EAW is being used to transfer people from one country to another, sometimes thousands of kilometres from their homes, family and jobs, only to question them. Public authorities are organising costly transfers which often end up with a half-an-hour interview, despite the availability of other ways to interview the person, such as video-conferencing. Putting human rights at the heart of the EAW A mechanism designed to bring people to trial is being used simply to investigate them Pedro Surrendered from Portugal to Spain In Poland prosecutors have no discretion to abandon prosecution of a crime and must take all available measures against the suspect, no matter how minor the crime. This leads to EAWs being used automatically and for inappropriate purposes. In Spain, despite an extensive search, we could find no record of courts using, prior to issuing an EAW, a measure to obtain an interview with a suspect through other means, such as video-conferencing. On the contrary, we learnt of two cases of people extradited from Portugal to Spain where the suspect had been unable to convince a Spanish court to allow video-conferencing instead of a surrender for an interview. We also found cases of surrender to Spain and from Spain to other countries, such as Germany, merely for interviews, after which the surrendered person was released with no means of getting home. With the introduction of the European Investigation Order (“EIO”) prosecutors and judges now have no reason to issue EAWs when they want to interview someone. However, this practice continues. Fair Trials and its Legal Experts Advisory Panel continue to learn of cases where an EAW is issued for the purposes of conducting an interview. This includes cases in which the authorities in Germany and France have requested the extradition of suspects (from the UK and Spain respectively) for the sole purpose of conducting interviews, a fact proven by the simultaneous issuance of EIOs for the same purposes in those cases. Both Recital 25 of the law creating the European Investigation Order and a Handbook issued in 2017 by the European Commission ask Member States to use the EIO instead of the EAW. But neither has the force of law and cannot be relied upon to prevent what appears to be an ingrained practice of using the EAW to investigate. Case study “It’s a life without him, of missing him all the time… We still haven’t been tried for… for us to pay a sentence… ey’re destroying my family. And it’s just based on guesswork. He still hasn’t been tried.” Patricia (Pedro’s wife) A different approach In Lithuania our partners monitored a case concerning a Belarussian businessman charged with embezzlement in Lithuania. While his family lives in Lithuania, he works in Russia. An EAW was issued, and he was arrested in Estonia and extradited to Lithuania. Instead of being placed in pre-trial detention, he was allowed to stay in his daughter’s apartment under house arrest, during the pre-trial Portuguese national, Pedro was wanted for questioning in a money laundering case. He was surrendered to Spain and has so far spent a year in pre-trial detention. His wife has made weekly overnight bus trips during this period to see him. The trips and the stress of “e world finding and paying for a of crime good lawyer has not been easy. Patricia is on entered our anti-depressants and she lives through says that she is scared of what this kind of sadness the hands of the courts.” does to a person. investigation. He was subsequently granted bail to allow him to continue his work in Russia. This worked out smoothly with the accused dutifully returning to court hearings every several weeks, and the proceedings going ahead as scheduled and without additional delays. This case shows a different approach that can be taken to keep people working and keep families together. This kind of case, however, is all-too-rare. Few examples like this were seen in this project despite an extensive search.