The Paris Court of Appeal refused to extradite prince Paul Philippe to Romania, where he has to serve a prison sentence in an illegal restitution case on Wednesday, July 9. This is the second time that France has denied a request for his extradition.
The refusal comes after a month of analysis. The president of the Extradition Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal emphasized that the Romanian authorities had valid reasons to issue a new arrest warrant, but that the measure was “disproportionate,” according to News.ro.
The judge in the case stated that he is ruling only on the admissibility of the arrest warrant, not on the merits of the case. He also ordered the lifting of the judicial supervision to which the prince was subjected since his release, after having spent a short time in detention in April.
“This decision regarding the arrest warrant is valid in France, but, as you know, Romania also sends this arrest warrant to other countries. If you cross the border, you risk being arrested,” the president of the court warned Paul Philippe of Romania. I
n April 2024, he was arrested in Malta, where he had traveled for an official ceremony. The Maltese judiciary ultimately refused his extradition to Romania, too, and the prince returned to France.
“I have always said that I trust the French justice system,” commented Paul Philip of Romania, after the announcement of the Court of Appeal’s decision. “It is a relief for my son, who is fifteen years old, and for my wife. We have been persecuted for something we did not do,” added Prince Paul, who is 77 years old. His lawyers, in turn, noted that there is “judicial drift” in Romania.
Paul, an estranged member of the Romanian royal family, is accused of collaborating with a gang of fraudsters, starting in 2006, to sell properties he claimed as heir to the royal family.
A Romanian court issued the first arrest warrant for Prince Paul in December 2020, one day after he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for influence peddling and complicity. Damages to the Romanian state resulting from the illegal restitutions were estimated at at least EUR 145 million.
The Paris Court of Appeal rejected the first request for his extradition in November 2023, judging that the right to a fair trial had not been respected, given the irregularities found in the swearing-in of two of the three judges.
The Romanian authorities issued a new arrest warrant against the prince in January of this year, based on the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union of July 29, 2024, pronounced following a preliminary ruling request. The CJEU considered that the decision of the French judiciary was “contrary to the principle of mutual trust” between European countries, exercising “excessive control” over the functioning of the Romanian judicial system.
(Photo source: Oguz Eren | Dreamstime.com)
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