The Bari Court of Appeal has suspended the extradition of former Neamt County Council President Ionel Arsen after his lawyers appealed to the ECHR, arguing that his right to life would be violated in Romania and he would be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. This was reported by the Minister of Justice Alina Gorghiu.

• It will be recalled that former PSD baron Ionel Arsen, who was sentenced in March to six years and eight months of imprisonment by firing squad, reported this to the ECtHR. Also, a convicted fugitive in Italy and his team of lawyers filed a petition to suspend the decision on his extradition to Romania and conduct a medical examination to determine “mental lability”.

“The Court of Appeal of Bari has currently suspended the transfer of convicted fugitive Ionel Arsen due to his health. Court-appointed experts will carry out the examination requested by the lawyers (to find out if he has mental problems) to see if his medical condition is confirmed. The Romanian state waited a long time for the final decision on capitulation. It is only suspended pending the results of the examination and we hope to make the transfer at the end. In the penitentiary system of Romania there are places for the treatment of prisoners, there are penitentiary hospitals for all kinds of diseases. This incident makes me even more determined about the efforts that the Ministry of Justice, together with other authorities, will make to return to the country any fugitive, regardless of his name, regardless of the country in which he is located,” wrote Minister Alina Gorghiu in his Facebook page.

The Ministry of Justice states that the ECtHR has not yet issued a decision on this case, only the Bari Court of Appeal has suspended the surrender.

Alina Gorghiu also announced on Thursday that Ionel Arsene’s lawyers had notified the ECtHR to prevent his extradition.

• “The judge for relations with Italy in the Ministry of Justice informed me that the lawyers of the convicted fugitive Ionel Arsen have appealed to the ECtHR on the grounds that in Romania his right to life will be violated and he will be subjected to inhuman/degrading treatment (Articles 2, 3 and 4 ECHR).
• The Ministry of Justice and the ANP have submitted to the file, in which the Italian court has already ordered the return of the escaped convicts, documents in which we highlight the conditions in the penitentiary according to European standards.
• At the same time, fugitive convict Ionel Arsen and his team of lawyers filed a motion to suspend the surrender and appoint a medical examination to determine mental lability. The court in Italy will decide today also this request.”

Gorgiu says that the Romanian state continues the extradition procedures of Ionel Arsene and the execution of the final decision of the court in Italy.

How Arsene’s lawyers are trying to prevent him from being sent to prison from Italy: “There is a very high risk of suicide”

Last week, the Supreme Court of Italy decided to extradite Ionel Arsene to Romania, where he must serve almost seven years of imprisonment.

However, two Italian lawyers for the former PSD baron complained of a “serious violation of domestic and European law” by the court that decided to bring Arsene into the country, and argued that he would suffer from a “severe depressive disorder” and would be a “risk mare” to commit suicide there. if he is imprisoned in a prison in Romania, writes Corriere dela Calabria.

The Italian publication reports that Ionel Arsene has been living in Italy for more than five years with his wife and their son and is waiting for the final decision of the Italian court to extradite him to Romania to serve his sentence. imprisonment, writes Corriere dela Calabria.

Ionel Arsene is represented by two Italian lawyers, Alfredo Gaito and Mario Antinucci, who argue that ex-PSD leader Neamț cannot be extradited and that the court would ignore the medical documents.

Two of Arsen’s defense attorneys claim that the extradition decision will seriously violate national and European law.

They claim that Arsene “is at risk of political persecution as the most important political leader of the ruling group of the previous Romanian government”.

In addition, the two Italian lawyers argue that Yonel Arsene had serious illnesses, including neuropsychiatric ones, and this would have been confirmed by doctors and medical documents, including psychiatric reports, would have been presented, an aspect that would have been ignored by the Court of Appeal of Bari, which did not appoint expert opinion, although the legal requirements would have been met.

Lawyers claim that Ionel Arsen has been diagnosed with “severe depressive disorder” and “represents a high risk of suicide.” “The risk of suicide is very high and will increase exponentially in the event of extradition,” the lawyers also argue, showing that “Romania is by no means a model of best practice” in terms of prison conditions.

“There are serious and proven reasons to believe that extradition would expose him to a real risk of a significant reduction in life expectancy due to a significant and irreparable deterioration in his health,” Arsene’s memoirs, quoted by Corriere, also state. from Calabria.

Ionel Arsen must serve almost seven years of imprisonment

Last month, the Court of Appeal of Bari had already decided to hand over Baron de Neamts to the Romanian authorities, but he appealed the decision. The Supreme Court of Italy confirmed the decision to extradite Ionel Arsen.

On March 10, 2023, Ionel Arsen was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison with firing squad in a corruption case. The decision is final and was issued by the Court of Appeal of Brasov. Arsen left the country before the sentencing.

In this case, Ionel Arsen was referred to the DNA court in 2018, being accused that during 2013, as a deputy and president of the PSD Neamț organization, he received from a person (the witness in question) the sum of 100,000 euros in order to to use the influence he allowed himself to assume over some people in the management of the National Integrity Agency to establish non-compliance with the legal provisions regarding the conflict of interest and the incompatibility regime in the case of a person who at the time held a senior position in local administration.

Anti-corruption prosecutors claim that the money handed over by a witness at a restaurant in Bucharest was supposed to reach the relevant persons through intermediaries.

Ionel Arsene was also the president of PSD Neamț since 2013, being one of the local PSD barons and considered the right-hand man of former PSD leader Liviu Dragnea.