Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 15 May 2020 – VA v Prosecutor of the regional prosecutor’s office in Ruse, Bulgaria

(Case C-206/20)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: VA

Respondent: Prosecutor of the regional prosecutor’s office in Ruse, Bulgaria

Question referred

Where surrender is sought in order to prosecute a requested person, and where the decision to issue an underlying national arrest warrant (“NAW”) and the decision to issue a European arrest warrant (“EAW”) are both taken by a public prosecutor, without any involvement of a Court prior to surrender, does a requested person receive the dual level of protection envisaged by the Court in Bob-Dogi C-241/15, (ECLI:EU:C:2016:385) if:

the effect of the NAW is limited to detaining the individual for a maximum of 72 hours for the purpose of bringing him before a Court; and

on surrender, it is solely a matter for the Court whether to order release, or to continue detention, in light of all the circumstances of the case?

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