German Constitutional Court: European Arrest Warrant Act void

On the 18th July 2005 the German Constitutional Court declared the European Arrest Warrant Act (Europäisches Haftbefehlsgesetz) unconstitutional and void. From the English press release:

According to the Court, the Act encroaches upon the freedom from extradition (Article 16.2 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz – GG)) in a disproportionate manner because the legislature has not exhausted the margins afforded to it by the Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant in such a way that the implementation of the Framework Decision for incorporation into national law shows the highest possible consideration in respect of the fundamental right concerned. Moreover, the European Arrest Warrant Act infringes the guarantee of recourse to a court (Article 19.4 of the Basic Law) because there is no possibility of challenging the judicial decision that grants extradition.

Note that this is only about the extradition of German citizens to other European countries. This has nothing to do with the extradition of Non-Germans, which happens much more often.