Extradited!: The European Arrest Warrant & My Fight for Justice from a Greek Prison Cell

(Hardback)

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As part of the Extradition Act (2003) the European Arrest Warrant was rushed through Parliament. When a EAW for a British national is issued by another European member state, authorities agree to extradite that person without question to the requesting country, regardless of evidence - a mechanism is open to abuse or error. One such abuse cost student Andrew Symeou very dear. In 2007, he and his friends went on holiday to Zante. Nothing remarkable happened during their stay but when Andrew returned to London, Greek police requested his extradition on a charge of murder. While Andrew was in Zante, another young holiday maker tragically died in a nightclub accident. Greek police quickly fabricated a case against Andrew, accusing him of striking the victim, whereas in fact he had neither met him nor been in the nightclub at the time of the alleged incident. A year later, Symeou was arrested at his North London home by British police with an EAW. Private Eye described the Greeks' investigation as "flawed, contradictory and in places ludicrous." A British Coroner slammed the investigation as being "a misguided effort to solve the crime".Regardless, a British court was unable to prevent Andrew's extradition and he was dragged away from friends, family and girlfriend. Having never been questioned by police, Andrew was thrown into a Greek prison where he spent almost a year pre-trial in truly horrific conditions. In 2011 he was acquitted as the Greek police's case unravelled. Andrew hopes that by telling his harrowing story he can highlight the terrible faults of the European Arrest Warrant and inspire politicians to make sure such iniquities does not continue to happen to innocent people.

Author Bio

Andrew Symeou was a university student when he was extradited to Greece on a European Arrest Warrant. Following his acquittal in 2011 he returned to London and his family, to complete his studies and campaign for a change in the law concerning the EAW. He lives in North London. Extradited is his first book.