Appeal defeat for Polish chef fighting extradition

Wednesday 13 March 2019

A chef with plans to marry in the island this year is one step closer to being jailed in his native Poland for a crime committed as a young man, after the Royal Court rejected his appeal against extradition.

While Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith said the court had "sympathy" for Jersey resident of nine years Dariusz Burdynski (32), they ultimately concluded that there were no legal grounds to allow him to stay.

Mr Burdynski is wanted in Poland for breaching a four-year probation order that prevented him from leaving the country. Alongside a two-year suspended prison sentence, it was set after he stole two cars aged 18.

Upon his release from prison for other offences, Mr Burdynski left Poland for Jersey in 2010 without informing his Probation Officer – placing him in breach of the order and subsequently activating the suspended two-year jail sentence.

Pictured: Dariusz Burdynski has lost his appeal in the Royal Court.

Five years later, an extradition request from the Polish Minister of Justice was sent to Jersey’s Attorney General demanding that Mr Burdynski return to Poland. It came as part of a spate of requests from the Republic following a crackdown on offenders who have left the country by the ruling Law and Justice party.

But, not consenting to the request, Mr Burdynski has taken his so far unsuccessful fight against his extradition from the Magistrate’s Court to the Royal Court in a battle of over six months.

His case was the subject of lengthy and technical hearings in the Magistrate’s Court, resulting in Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris ruling that there was no legal reason why Mr Burdynski should not return to Poland before sending the case to the Attorney General, who gave his extradition the green light.

Mr Burdynski subsequently appealed in the Royal Court, but Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, sitting with Jurats Blampied and Ramsden, also ruled against the Polish chef, who had plans to get married in Jersey later this year.

Pictured: Mr Burdynski's case was subject to a number of lengthy and technical hearings in the Magistrate's Court.

The appeal hearing, which took place in February, saw Advocate Matthew Maletroit appear as a representative of the Republic of Poland.

Mr Burdynski's lawyer, Advocate Jeremy Garood, made several arguments to prove his client’s grounds for appeal:   

• the original offences themselves are not “serious” enough to qualify as extradition offences under Jersey law;
• the Assistant Magistrate did not follow all the criteria set out in the extradition law when deciding whether Jersey could consent to extradition;
• the fact that his client was not present at the hearing where the suspended sentence was activated is problematic;
• the original extradition request came from the Polish Court rather than the Minister for Justice, rendering it null and void under the law.

But this week the Royal Court concluded that none of these arguments was sufficient to overturn the Attorney General’s decision. 

The Commissioner said that it was not necessary for the Assistant Magistrate to undertake “a hypothetical sentencing exercise” to ascertain how the offences would be dealt with if carried out in Jersey, but that as they are punishable by 12 months’ imprisonment under Jersey law, they are “serious enough” to warrant extradition.

Pictured: The Court's written judgment outlines their reasoning for dismissing Mr Burdynski's appeal.

The Court also found that, although the Assistant Magistrate had erred in one part of the extradition law, this was not significant enough to sway his overall ruling. They otherwise upheld every other aspect of Assistant Magistrate’s decision.

In relation to the validity of the original extradition request, the Court stated that “there is no provision under the extradition law to appeal” on these grounds, concluding that the they did not "think this challenge has any merit".

The Commissioner commented: “Whilst we have some sympathy with the appellant, who has been well settled in Jersey now for some nine years during which time he has not offended, it is for the Polish courts, not this Court, to decide how he is to serve the remainder of his sentence.”

He concluded: “For all these reasons, the appeal is dismissed… the appellant should be extradited.”

Mr Burdynski remains on conditional bail until he is asked to surrender to the Police for his extradition.