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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Mazurkiewicz v Rzeszow Circuit Court, Poland [2011] EWHC 659 (Admin) (22 March 2011) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/659.html Cite as: [2011] EWHC 659 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE CRANSTON
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ANDRZEJ MAZURKIEWICZ |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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RZESZOW CIRCUIT COURT, POLAND |
Respondent |
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Mr Myles Grandison (instructed by Crown Prosecution Service) for the Respondent
Hearing date: Monday 7th March 2011
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Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Jackson :
Part 1. Introduction,
Part 2. The Facts,
Part 3. The Appeal to the High Court,
Part 4. The Law,
Part 5. The First Ground of Appeal: Suicide Risk,
Part 6. The Second Ground of Appeal: Tattooing,
Part 7. Conclusion.
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
"Right to respect for private and family life
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
"(1) If the judge is required to proceed under this section (by virtue of section 11 or 20) he must decide whether the person's extradition would be compatible with the Convention rights within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42).
(2) If the judge decides the question in subsection (1) in the negative he must order the person's discharge.
(3) If the judge decides that question in the affirmative he must order the person to be extradited to the category 1 territory in which the warrant was issued."
"(1) This section applies if at any time in the extradition hearing it appears to the judge that the condition in subsection (2) is satisfied.
(2) The condition is that the physical or mental condition of the person in respect of whom the Part 1 warrant is issued is such that it would be unjust or oppressive to extradite him.
(3) The judge must—
(a) order the person's discharge, or
(b) adjourn the extradition hearing until it appears to him that the condition in subsection (2) is no longer satisfied."
"Ms Jo Grimshaw at HMP Wandsworth
Entry by ST/N Cassia Lim. On centre with Hotel 3 (Grimshaw) when heard alarms on D-wing. Attended code 1 on D3 landing with Hotel 3. On arrival patient was conscious and on the floor. Officers reported that he had been hanging from the light fitting, feet off the ground for an unknown period of time. On examination pt was very distressed. He was fully conscious – GCS=15/15. He had ligature marks to his neck but had full range of movement. No spinal or back pain. Obs were within normal range. Lengthy discussion with pt as to motivation for suicide attempt with the assistance of interpreter. He appears to have long standing concern about his upcoming extradition to Poland. Concern that he may attempt DSH again in the future, therefore recommended level one obs. Officers aware and PCMHT asked to review as urgently."
"He states that once he became aware that it was planned that he would be deported to Poland, he has self-harmed on ten to twenty occasions. He states that he cuts himself on the arm with a razor blade. He showed me a number of healed superficial scars on his arms. He states that he does not always bring these to the attention of the prison staff."
"7. On the 16th June 2010 he attempted to hang himself in his prison cell. There is rather scant information from the prison service about the exact details of this incident and it is difficult to know with certainty to what extent it was just good fortune that this attempt was not successful or whether the incident took place in a manner that made discovery likely. It is unclear from the description whether there was any way in which he could have terminated this attempt once he started it. It is also unclear to what extent he had made this attempt with the likelihood of it being carried through with success. From the information given, it does sound like it was an event that could have resulted in his death but for the intervention of prison staff.
8. In my opinion I strongly suspect that Mr Mazurkiewicz suffers from traits of both an emotionally unstable personality and an antisocial personality. I am cautious about fully attributing the diagnosis of personality disorder to him, as my information source is very much based on Mr Mazurkiewicz's account and ideally before a diagnosis of personality disorder is made it is necessary to have good collateral history as to the persons past history and behaviour. It is my opinion that traits of these disorders (affective instability [fluctuations of mood], ability to plan ahead is impaired, outburst of intense anger may often lead to behavioural explosions, impulsive behaviour, tendency to become involved in intense and unstable relationships which may cause repeated emotional crises and may be associated with excessive efforts to avoid abandonment and series of suicidal threats or acts of self harm) are what underlie his inability to envisage any future for himself if deported and his desire to kill himself.
9. I did not find evidence of severe and enduring mental illness. In my opinion his reported low mood is attributable to his personality disorder and possibly an adjustment reaction to his current adverse circumstances."
"27. I will self harm. I have ready access to blades which I am able to hide on my person. I have smuggled them with me from prison to court on two occasions (25 May 2010 and 2 July 2010) and also have access to them in prison. I carry them to use them on myself immediately in the event my extradition is ordered.
28. I brought a blade with me when I met with the psychiatrist because I didn't know that I was going to be assessed and thought I might be extradited and would need to be able to commit suicide.
29. I will kill myself as soon as the extradition order is made; I will not return to Poland. The prison staff will not be able to find the blades.
30. I attempted to hang myself on 16 June 2010 in my prison cell. My cell mate had gone to work. I tied some bed-sheets together and tied one end around my neck and stood on a chair to attach the other to a light fitting; I then kicked the chair away. The next thing I remember is coming round on the floor surrounded by prison staff. I had a mark around my neck for 10 days.
31. The next time, I will use the blades. I also have rope which, although the staff took it from me, I managed to get it back and I carry it with me. I still have movable furniture in my cell."
"29. There is, in my judgment, a quite stark and single decision which the court has to make in this case and that can be expressed under section 25 as whether it would be oppressive to order his return. In my judgment, in a very difficult case, it would be oppressive. It would, in my judgment, be oppressive to order his return when there is, on any view on the evidence, such a substantial risk that he will commit suicide. It is not as if this is an appellant who is threatening to commit suicide without any history of having tried to do so. Not only is he threatening that he will commit suicide and the doctor believes him but he has in fact, for the same reason, attempted to commit suicide in Wormwood Scrubs Prison and very nearly succeeded in doing so. In reaching the conclusion that it would be oppressive to return him, this is not a reflection on the ability of the Latvian prison authorities to protect him and provide the necessary treatment. But an assessment, so far as the evidence enables one to do so, that the risk that he will succeed in committing suicide, whatever steps are taken, is on the evidence, sufficiently great to result in a finding of oppression. The same line of reasoning, in my judgment, could be applied to Article 8 and I do not think it is necessary to proceed to Article 3. Under Article 8 it seems to me that the inevitable proportionality judgment that has to be made, taking account of the seriousness of the offences, the need to honour international treaties and the finding that the Latvian authorities will, generally speaking, take all reasonable steps to protect him, nevertheless has to be weighed against the risk which the doctor does not express as a risk but as a certainty that he will commit suicide, his mental state having deteriorated.
30. In my judgment, a judgment of proportionality for Article 8 purposes falls on the side of the finding that his Article 8 rights would be infringed."
"Since in the context a successful actual suicide attempt would necessarily constitute an extreme violation of Article 3 if it were caused by factors for which the Secretary of State should be regarded as responsible, the court is logically concerned with evaluating the risk that a threatened suicide would eventuate and succeed. A very high risk would doubtless be capable of achieving the Article 3 threshold. Our evaluation is that Mrs Prosser's risk falls significantly short of achieving that threshold."
"Obviously, as the Judge himself acknowledged, every case has to be judged on its merits and Mr Richard Mobbs, perfectly correctly, cautioned against being influenced unduly by a "floodgates" argument. However, it does at least highlight the need for circumspection in evaluating the evidence when such an issue is raised in case there is a perception that raising the issue is an easy way of avoiding extradition."
"Until and unless the reasoning in Jansons is disproved, the risk of suicide must be accepted to be a relevant risk for the purpose of section 25. The question must therefore be addressed and answered in such a case: would the mental condition of the person to be extradited make it oppressive to extradite him? Logically, the answer to that question in a suicide risk case must be no unless the mental condition of the person is such as to remove his capacity to resist the impulse to commit suicide, otherwise it will not be his mental condition but his own voluntary act which puts him at risk of dying, and therefore may make it oppressive to extradite him. Untidy though it may be, and while Jansons remains good authority, the question must be approached in a somewhat less logical manner. When, as in Jansons, there is uncontradicted evidence that an individual who has made a serious attempt to kill himself will kill himself if extradited, it may be right to hold that it would be oppressive to extradite him. Anything less will not do."
"Furthermore, even if this account of the defendant is accepted as being accurate, a picture emerges of a young man with a personality disorder which demonstrates itself as emotional instability with impulsive traits. This is evidenced by self inflicted wounds with sharp implements. The defendant seems to have had free and alarming access to razor blades or craft knife blades. At the time of the extradition hearing on 15th October there were old scars the most recent of which are on his wrists, according to Dr Reid being of a superficial nature and possibly 6 months old. The defendant, in my opinion, challenges the authorities (i.e. prison staff and the courts) with the threat of self-harm by cutting or wounding as he both boasts of and demonstrates his access to cutting implements. This is done wholly to avoid the extradition process."
"I accept the defendant's evidence of his tattoos and the significance of them. He is a man who indulges in this type of body marking as part of his way of life. It would appear that he never complained to the prison staff in Poland about prison tattoos being performed under duress. Thus, the presence of these tattoos is equally consistent with a voluntary submission to be part of a gang culture and symbolising his participation as a prisoner in crime or in a gang.
Furthermore when interviewed by Dr Reid and setting out in great detail his earlier history he never suggested to him that these tattoos were anything other than part of prison culture which he embraced. That he allowed these things to happen to himself may be part of his personality disorder or lack of adjustment or impulsive behaviour, which is referred to in Dr Reid's report and to which I shall return later. This does not matter but, equally, it does not begin to point to torture or inhuman treatment in the future which would defeat the safeguards as to his wellbeing which this court must recognise as existing within the Polish Penal System and as part of its European Convention Membership."
Mr Justice Cranston: