Case C-571/17 PPU

Samet Ardic

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank Amsterdam)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Urgent preliminary ruling procedure — Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters — European arrest warrant — Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA — Surrender procedures between Member States — Conditions for execution — Grounds for optional non-execution — Article 4a(1) of Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA — Arrest warrant issued for the purpose of executing a custodial sentence — ‘Trial resulting in the decision’ — Scope — Person sentenced to a custodial sentence in final proceedings conducted in his presence — Execution of sentence subsequently suspended in part subject to certain conditions — Subsequent proceedings leading to revocation of the suspension due to non-compliance with those conditions — Revocation proceedings conducted in the absence of the person concerned)

Summary – Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber), 22 December 2017

1. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters–Council Framework Decision 2002/584 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States–Grounds for optional non-execution of the European arrest warrant–Arrest warrant issued for the purpose of implementing a sentence handed down in absentia–‘Trial resulting in the decision’–Final judicial ruling, after an assessment of the case in fact and in law, on the guilt of that person and on the custodial sentence imposed on him

   (Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, Art. 4a(1))

2. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters–Council Framework Decision 2002/584 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States–Grounds for optional non-execution of the European arrest warrant–Arrest warrant issued for the purpose of implementing a sentence handed down in absentia–‘Trial resulting in the decision’–concept of ‘decision’–Decision relating to the execution or application of a custodial sentence previously imposed–Not included–Conditions

   (Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, Art. 4a(1))

3. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters–Council Framework Decision 2002/584 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States–Grounds for optional non-execution of the European arrest warrant–Arrest warrant issued for the purpose of implementing a sentence handed down in absentia–‘Trial resulting in the decision’–Proceedings the suspension of execution of a custodial sentence, subsequent to the proceedings which have already given rise to the final decision on the guilt of the person concerned and on the sentence imposed–Not included–Condition

   (Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, Art. 4a(1))

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 63-67)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 75-77)

3.  Where a party has appeared in person in criminal proceedings that result in a judicial decision which definitively finds him guilty of an offence and, as a consequence, imposes a custodial sentence the execution of which is subsequently suspended in part, subject to certain conditions, the concept of ‘trial resulting in the decision’, as referred to in Article 4a(1) of Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, as amended by Council Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA of 26 February 2009, must be interpreted as not including subsequent proceedings in which that suspension is revoked on grounds of infringement of those conditions during the probationary period, provided that the revocation decision adopted at the end of those proceedings does not change the nature or the level of the sentence initially imposed.

   (see para 92 and operative part)