Two Romanians who fled to the UK to avoid doing time in Romania can’t be extradited because the jail cells in their home country are too small, reports Daily Mail.

One of the two Romanian fugitives, Ionel-Remus Grecu, had fled to the UK to avoid serving a prison sentence in Romania for being a member of a violent burglary gang. Seven months after his arrest, he filed an appeal against an extradition order.

The other Romanian is Cosmin-Ionut Bagarea, who got a suspended prison sentence in January 2012 for growing cannabis. He broke the terms of his sentence and fled to the UK where he was arrested in the fall of 2016. He also filed an appeal against extradition.

However, as the court papers show that both of them would be moved to cells of 2 sqm in Romania, UK judges decided to block their extradition. They say that the bad detention conditions in Romania contravene rulings from the European Court of Human Rights, reports Daily Mail. Thus, they want assurances that the men would have more space, namely prison cells of 3 sqm, before they grant extradition requests.

The judges were told that the two men would be sent to semi-open prisons in Romania. The jails have smoking zones, unlocked areas for walking, phones and up to ten hours of visiting rights a month.

In a judgment issued in late-April this year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that detention conditions in Romanian prisons are in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights and “point to a structural deficiency requiring the adoption of general measures by the state.” The Romanian Government was given a period of six months to come up with measures to reduce overcrowding and improve detention conditions.

New prisons to accommodate overcrowded inmates would cost Romania more than EUR 1 billion

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com