| Abstract [eng] |
The master's thesis analyses the legal regulation of the surrender procedure applied through the European Arrest Warrant (EAO) in the European Union and in Lithuania, as well as the practical application of this mechanism. The thesis examines the implementation of the provisions of the Framework Decision incorporated into Article 91 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, raising the problematic issue of the distortion of the systematic nature of criminal law, based on the implementation models of other European Union Member States, such as Poland, Latvia and Spain, and provides an assessment of how these provisions are transposed into the Code of Criminal Procedure. The thesis also consistently assesses the general principles governing the European Arrest Warrant mechanism—the principles of mutual recognition, mutual trust and the protection of fundamental human rights. The need to analyze the impact of these principles on the execution of the European Arrest Warrant stems from the jurisprudential shift in 2016, when in Aranyosi and Căldăraru the Court of Justice for the first time established an obligation for national courts to assess potential violations of fundamental rights and, where necessary, refuse execution. Lithuanian judicial practice, characterized by a low number of refusals to execute a European Arrest Warrant, provides grounds to assess whether, following the change in the presumption of automatic application of mutual recognition and mutual trust, courts are willing to go beyond this presumption and examine the justification of the European Arrest Warrant and doubts concerning the application of law in the issuing state. An analysis of 25 decisions of the Lithuanian Court of Appeal shows that decisions on the execution of the European Arrest Warrant ensure an efficient surrender procedure, although signs of competition between the principles are evident, and the principle of the protection of human rights is applied in a limited manner, with doubts raised in appeals regarding potential fundamental rights violations being assessed formally under the cover of mutual recognition and mutual trust. The thesis reveals the significance of the implementation of these general principles, their interaction and competition in the surrender procedure, and analyses Lithuanian judicial practice, European Union legislative acts, the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice and documents of the European Commission. |
