Olszowy v Judge Elzbieta Przybtla Circuit Court in Katowice Poland

1. MR JUSTICE MITTING: I decline to adjourn the hearing of this appeal. 2. The appellant was arrested on 25 July last year. His Polish lawyer was instructed on 9 September last year to have the sentence imposed upon him in Poland lifted or postponed. She wrote on 27 February 2012 to say that that was not successful and that there was one more legal remedy which might stop the execution of his sentence which required an application to the court, which was listed for hearing on 20 April this year. I am told, and have no reason to doubt, that it was adjourned because the judge was ill, and has been relisted for hearing on 8 May. If successful, it may result in the postponement of the sentence and subsequently to the abandonment of proceedings, at least for the time being, under this warrant. 3. This is not an uncommon set of circumstances in Polish cases, as Ouseley J has observed. Although there is an application to be heard in the Polish court only a few days hence, it is by no means certain to result in the suspension or withdrawal of this warrant. The appellant has already had one unsuccessful attempt to compromise proceedings in Poland. This, it seems, is the last throw of the dice. 4. Further, because the application will be heard in the very near future, it will be heard and determined before extradition occurs. Consequently, there is no reason why I should not proceed to hear the appeal, and little prejudice to the appellant if I do so. For those reasons, I reject the application for an adjournment. This appeal will be heard at 2 pm.