A crowd gathered on Saturday, Jan 9th, outside the Greek Embassy, to protest and remember that Andrew Symeou has now been in a Greek prison, unnecessarily, for six months. The crowd was well behaved and orderly and included London MEPS UK Independence Party Gerald Batten and Liberal Democrat Baroness Sarah Ludford. The protest tried to stay non political, focused on Andrew's release, and after many chants demanding release of Andrew now, posted a petition of protest through the Embassy's letter box.

"Andrew Symeou, 21, from Enfield, was returned to Greece in July 2009 on a controversial charge related to the death of a fellow young Briton in a Greek nightclub. He has been denied bail and his lawyers maintain there have been brutal police tactics, fabrication of evidence and even torture of witnesses." Baroness Ludford, January 8th, 2010

EAW and Politics. On a political note, it is interesting to compare the position of the two MEPs, regarding the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). From previous posts you will know what a dreadful instrument this is as anyone can now be extradited to any EU State and the English extraditing Magistrate is not allowed to examine the evidence. Some very basic fundamental rights of English people have just been discarded. Think carefully before booking that holiday to Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania ........

[Photo 1 - Delivery of the petition at the Greek Embassy, London - Baroness Ludford can be seen in the white coat and black hat ] 

Gerard Batten Gerard Batten MEP has drawn attention to the injustices of the European Arrest Warrant. Here the family of Andrew Symeou, now awaiting trial in Greece, tell of his current situation. Under a EAW any British citizen may now be extradited to another EU country as a mere bureaucratic formality.

Baroness Ludford said, in a speech delivered to the European Parliament on Tue 24th Nov 2009 "So I support the European arrest warrant, but we absolutely must have the defendants' rights to go with it. Otherwise we will have scandals like that of Andrew Symeou which destroy public support for the European arrest warrant, as is happening in my country."

As I write this is warmth and comfort, I am trying to think of how Andrew must feel, in a filthy cockroach infested prison cell, discarded by the Westminster political machine as irrelevant. The Home Office recently said to me about this case.

"The Government is satisfied that the EAW is working well and there are no plans to review Part 1 of the Act"

 [Photo 2 - MEP Gerard Batten being interviewd by a TV crew]

Working well? Just ask the Symeou family and the ever growing list of individuals now incarcerated in squalid jails throughout the European Union, what they think. They have discovered that the British Justice system, based on Common Law where the individual has many rights which they once took for granted is so so very different from EU justice which on the whole is based on the Napoleonic code, where the State has all the rights.

Staycation this year? For those that can still afford a holiday in another EU State, "Staycations" now makes more sense than ever.