Statement by Justice For Symeou Campaign

Royal Courts of justiceFrom The Facebook Group STOP the Extradition of Andrew Symeou

Unfortunately on the 1st May the High Court dismissed the appeal against Andrew's extradition to Greece.

Andrew, as we all are, is devastated at the judgement handed down by the court, however his Lawyers are working on a further appeal to the House of Lords, and if that is not successful to the European Court in Strasburg. We will fight on.


The Judges dismissed the appeal, even though in some instances had agreed that the evidence submitted did show that the Zante police investigation was flawed and could not rule out that they were not guilty of manipulation and fabrication of evidence. However they ruled that this was an argument for the Greek courts.

Since the High Court hearing on the 12th March 2007, we have again requested for the Greek authorities to review the investigation or at least ask for mutual legal assistance so that UK Police can question Andrew and examine all the evidence.

Furthermore, there has also been no response to a letter sent by Fair Trials International to the Greek Minister of Justice, outlining the anomalies and discrepancies in the evidence and asked that the Greek Authorities suspend the extradition request and conduct a judicial review.

In our opinion, the Zante police are using "sleight of hand" tactics to sway the blame from the nightclub where the incident took place, and the lack and poor hospital treatment received by Jonathan Hiles, both in Zante and later in Athens. In the meantime, the real culprit is out there with head hanging low and an innocent person is accused. The Greek Authorities are looking for someone to blame - any one, but under the European Arrest Warrant the hands of Andrew's legal team seem to be tied.

In the interest of justice, both for Andrew and for the Hiles family, we urge that witnesses who have information on the case should step forward.

Fair Trials International commented on the decision:
"Today's decision is a huge blow and we hope it will be overturned on appeal. Even the most superficial examination shows that the case against Andrew is built on a flawed police investigation, mistaken identity and conflicting evidence. There is no sense in surrendering this young man to Greece to fight this flimsy case in a foreign court."
http://www.fairtrials.net/index.php/cases/spotlight/andrew_symeou/

The Human Rights organisation Liberty also condemned the decision. See:
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news-and-events/1-press-releases/2009/01-05-09-liberty-condemn-high-court-extradition-decision.shtml

www.justice-for-symeou.com

Facebook Group

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STOP the Extradition of Andrew Symeou

 

Posted on 10 May, 2009 by alfred

Filed under Law


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