French justice has ruled. The Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday refused the surrender to Bucharest of a descendant of one of the last kings of Romania, Paul of Romania, requested according to it for a “political” purpose to carry out a sentence in a case of illegal restitution Goods.
The extradition chamber refused this surrender on Wednesday “due to a real risk of violation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”. This decision may be the subject of an appeal by the public prosecutor.
“I knew that I would receive (in France) what was denied to me in Romania: a fair trial based on evidence and an impartial application of the law,” welcomed Paul Philip Al Romaniei, known as Paul from Romania, 75 years old, according to a press release from his lawyers Me Laurent Pasquet-Marinacce and Edward Griffith. This decision “constitutes full recognition of my rights as the legitimate heir of Carol II,” he said.
The royal family chased out by the communists in 1947
Paul from Romania was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued on December 18, 2020, the day after his conviction on appeal by the Romanian High Court of Cassation to three years and four months in prison for influence peddling and complicity. He is accused of having worked with a gang of crooks, between 2006 and 2013, to recover properties he claimed as heir, including the Snagov forest and the Baneasa farm.
In this case, 18 people were convicted, including Israeli businessmen Tal Silberstein and Beny Steinmetz, and the damage to the state was estimated by prosecutors at 145 million euros. During a hearing on October 4 before the extradition chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, Paul from Romania refused to be handed over to the Romanian authorities.
His father, Carol Mircea Grigore, born in 1920 in Romania, was considered the illegitimate son of Carol II, who was king of Romania from 1930 until his abdication in 1940 for the benefit of his younger son Michael I. In 1947, the royal family was driven out of Romania by the communists and their properties were confiscated. According to Paul from Romania, it is because he is claiming his inheritance made up of properties, land and master paintings that he is the subject of legal proceedings.