The Magistrate’s court has ordered Prince Paul-Philippe al Romaniei to be extradited to Romania after the Office of the Attorney General appealed an initial decision to deny the request.
In 2020, the 75-year-old prince was convicted in absentia of corruption in connection with the illegal restitution of real estate near Bucharest, over which he was accused of falsely claiming ownership. Al-Romaniei was sentenced to almost 3.5 years in prison. He denies the accusations.
Some two years later, he was apprehended in Paris, but a Court of Appeal refused to extradite him to Romania.
He currently resides in France, but while in Malta for a conference in April, he was detained on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant.
In his initial judgement, Magistrate Leonard Caruana said that there was a real risk the prince could suffer a breach of rights if sent back to Romania, with the court hearing during proceedings how a French court had rejected a similar extradition request.
The Attorney General, however, appealed that decision while al Romaniei also went back to court to fight for his release, arguing that his continued detainment at the Corradino Correctional Facility while the outcome of the appeal was decided constituted a breach of his fundamental rights.
The first court heard how after the fall of the communist regime, Prince Paul and his father returned to Romania to reclaim family property.
However, they were met with the argument that, even if they had been entitled to this land, it was the Nazis who had confiscated it and not the communist state.
In her judgement, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimich noted that the defence argued that the EAW is only a pretext for prosecuting and punishing al Romaniei for his political opinions and asked that the court refuse the extradition request for these reasons.
However, the court also pointed out that the terms of the EAW mean that the requested person can only face charges or action for the offences listed in the order.
Based on this, she ordered Prince Paul-Philippe al Romaniei to be returned to Romania.
The court also ordered that the prince not be returned to the country until seven days pass from the date of the order and informed al Romaniei that he may appeal the judgement with the Court of Criminal Appeal.