In fact, there is considerable extradition traffic between Germany and Lithuania, I have had contact with it twice. I was also in Vilnius and saw that the conditions of detention there are not at all comparable to those in Germany.

No special extradition treaty is required for extradition to Lithuania. Extradition to Lithuania is possible under the European arrest warrant (EAW) following the implementation in Lithuania of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant (EAW).

European arrest warrant from Lithuania

Extradition to Lithuania is also possible in relation to German nationals - only for prosecution, not for execution - as is the case everywhere in the area covered by the European arrest warrant.

The European arrest warrant from Lithuania is exchanged between the German judiciary and the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office. Provisional arrest for extradition to Lithuania is already permissible before that, unless extradition from Germany to Lithuania seems inadmissible from the outset in a specific case.

In Lithuania, the arrest warrant is issued by an investigating judge. The issuing of an arrest warrant presupposes suspicion and a reason for arrest and must be measured by the principle of proportionality. Measures to avoid pre-trial detention are the deposit of a deposit, house arrest and instructions regarding the stay. The accused may lodge an appeal against an arrest warrant, even if he is abroad.

The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf has so far refused extradition to Lithuania in one case, in which the persecuted person was, however, in a German witness protection program. OLG Düsseldorf: "Extradition is inadmissible if the requesting state is not in a position to protect the persecuted person in a German witness protection programme on its territory from attacks on his life by a violent, gang-like criminal offender group".

Extradition is not admissible on the grounds of an obstacle to extradition pursuant to Article 3 of the ECHR, Article 25 of the German Basic Law, if, due to specific peculiarities in the person to be extradited, there is concrete reason to fear that he will lose his life or suffer serious and irreparable damage to his health.

The Nürnbberg Higher Regional Court (decision of 12 March 2015) declared extradition to Lithuania admissible, since ultimately there had been no confirmed evidence that the Lithuanian prisons did not comply with the requirements of Art. 3 ECHR.

But other countries have greater reservations about Lithuanian prisons and it has proved worthwhile for one's own case to study foreign case law when it comes to extradition to Lithuania.

Prison conditions in Lithuania

One must have seen the inside of Lukiškės prison in the centre of Vilnius, Lithuania, in order to imagine the conditions of detention. The 1904 prison building is as frightening as the guards, the tone and the constant yapping of dog patrols. When I was there in 2010, the prison spontaneously awakened memories of Nicolai Lilin's "Siberian Education".

The Lukiškės prison in the centre of Vilnius looks back on a sad past during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania and then after the reconquest by Soviet troops in 1944, the prison was returned to the Interior Ministry of the USSR, which held thousands of Polish activists and members of the Polish army here.

The report of the Anti-Torture Committee of the Council of Europe on the treatment of people in police custody and the conditions of detention in police prisons and prisons, published in 2014, also provides an insight into the conditions of detention in Lithuania. With regard to detention conditions, there are complaints about limited access to daylight, unseparated toilets in the cells, dirty mattresses and blankets. In addition, poor material conditions of detention, severe overcrowding and a shortage of medical personnel can generally be assumed.