[2025] EWHC 1956 (Admin)

This is an extradition appeal.

The appellant and Requested Person (“RP”) is Antanas Sinkevicius, a Lithuanian national. He was born on 19 June 1990 and is now aged 35. The appellant is represented by Mr Hepburne Scott of counsel. The respondents are judicial authorities in Lithuania: the Regional Court in Kaunas and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania. The respondents are represented by Mr Squibbs of counsel. The court is grateful to counsel for their focused and informed submissions.

By way of a notice of appeal dated 18 September 2024, the appellant sought to appeal the decision of District Judge Tempia (“the Judge”) sitting at the Westminster Magistrates' Court on 5 September 2024. In a reserved judgment dated 12 September 2024, the Judge ordered the appellant’s extradition to Lithuania. The RP was found by the Judge to be a fugitive from Lithuanian justice. The appellant appeals with the permission of Morris J granted on 11 February 2025.

Lithuania has been designated as a Part 1 territory pursuant to an order made under section 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 ("the Act") and the Extradition Act 2003 (Designation of Part 1 Territories) Order 2003/3333 (as amended). The Lithuanian judicial authorities have issued two warrants in this case:

The conviction warrant can be dealt with immediately. The parties agree that the appellant has spent sufficient time on remand to have served the 15-months’ custodial sentence imposed by the Lithuanian court. After the appeal hearing, as will be explained at the end of the judgment, the conviction warrant was withdrawn by the respondents. I ordered the discharge of the appellant in respect of AW1 only. Therefore, this appeal only deals with the accusation warrant AW2. However, the facts of the fraud offence relating to AW1 retain relevance to the overall assessment of the case.

The accusation warrant may also be simplified. Although there were three offences under its cover, the Judge correctly concluded that Offence 2, a fraud at the bottom of the scale of harm, was not sufficiently serious to constitute an extradition offence. Focus has therefore been trained on Offences 1 and 3.