Irish block murder suspect’s extradition to France
Mar 1, 2012, 6:14 PM
DUBLIN (AP) – An Englishman long suspected of killing a French filmmaker in Ireland has won his appeal against extradition to France.
Ian Bailey expressed relief after the five judges of Ireland’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that European Union law would not permit his extradition to France. A lower Irish court last year had approved France’s 2010 extradition warrant.
Irish police twice arrested Bailey on suspicion of beating to death Sophie Toscan du Plantier outside her Cork holiday home in December 1996. But he was never charged.
The Supreme Court ruled it could permit Bailey’s extradition only if French authorities charged him with murder, but the French warrant specified that Bailey was wanted only for questioning and potential prosecution.
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