Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2019-09-09 Docket: C66674

Judges: Sharpe, van Rensburg and Thorburn JJ.A.

In the Matter of an Application for Judicial Review

Pursuant to s. 57 of the Extradition Act, S.C. 1999, c. 18

Between

The Attorney General of Canada (On behalf of Romania)

Respondent

and

Laszlo Soproni

Appellant

Counsel

For the Appellant: Christine Mainville

For the Respondent: Adrienne Rice

Hearing

Heard and released orally: September 6, 2019

On application for judicial review of the surrender order of the Minister of Justice, dated March 4, 2019.

Reasons for Decision

1The Attorney General asks that this application for judicial review be adjourned to permit him to reconsider his decision, dated January 30, 2019, to surrender the applicant to Romania, pursuant to the Extradition Act. The applicant has been in custody in Canada since his arrest on October 31, 2016. He is subject to a three-year sentence in Romania. The Romanian authorities have indicated that he will be given credit for time served in Canada. Duty counsel opposes the request for an adjournment and asks that we consider the judicial review application today and grant the applicant immediate release.

2In our view, the Minister should be given the opportunity to reconsider his decision in the light of the situation as it now stands. In particular, we are not persuaded that it would be appropriate to quash the surrender order today on account of the alleged violation of s. 3(3) of the Extradition Act. Counsel for the Attorney General has indicated that the process of reconsideration is underway but to remove any doubt on that score, we direct the Minister to reconsider the surrender decision as soon as possible.

3This application, accordingly, will be adjourned to the next inmate sitting.