LITHUANIA'S REACTION TO AUSTRIA’S DECISION TO RELEASE THE SUSPECT IN JANUARY 13TH CASE (highlights and information package)
2011.08.01 , Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HIGHLIGHTS

• On July 18, Lithuania handed in a note to Austria requesting to explain on what basis and why so hastily the decision was taken to release the suspect in the case of the assault of January 13, 1991, Mikhail Golovatov, who was detained on a European Arrest Warrant.


• Lithuania assesses Austria’s actions with regard to the European Arrest Warrant that has been issued for Mikhail Golovatov as a particularly brutal violation of EU law.


• The hasty decision taken by Austrian authorities to release the suspect in the so-called “January 13th case” diminished the efficient international legal cooperation in criminal cases among EU member states, as well as the principle of EU solidarity.


• In 2008 European Commission issued a report on practical application of the European Arrest Warrant, which indicates that Austria committed to deal with such type of requests in accordance with the extradition system.


• European arrest warrant issued for an offence committed prior to 2002 is automatically recognized as a request for extradition. This means that requesting country should have up to 18 days for providing information and 40 days for providing additional information.


• In this case Lithuanian prosecutors were given only couple of hours. And even in that short time they managed to provide a summary of notification of suspicion against Golovatov.


• These days Lithuania has a similar procedural situation with Italy. Lithuanian prosecutors office has been given 40 days for providing information.


• Lithuanian reaction was echoed on 19 July in Riga and Tallinn. Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis summoned the Austrian Ambassador to Latvia Hermine Poppeller and presented a note requesting to furnish with information on legal and any other considerations behind the decision taken by the Austrian authorities. Austrian Ambassador to Estonia Angelika Saupe-Berchtold was invited to the Foreign Ministry in Tallinn and asked for an explanation as to why Austrian law enforcement authorities decided to release Mikhail Golovatov, after he was detained in Vienna.


• Foreign Ministers of the Baltic States on 18 July signed a joint letter to European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding and EU foreign ministres. Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian ministers emphasized that European Arrest Warrant as an instrument of mutual trust within EU should be effectively applied in practice in order to arrest and surrender persons, especially involved in the war crimes and crimes against humanity.