Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Diaspora, Seán Crowe TD, has raised the case of Irish prisoner Michael Campbell with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Ireland in the EU Affairs Committee today.

Michael Campbell, from County Louth, is currently being held in the notorious Lukiskes prison in Lithuania.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“Michael Campbell is being kept in Lukiskes prison and the conditions there are notorious.

“In two recent court cases, one in Dublin and one in Belfast, Judges refused to extradite individuals who would possibly be imprisoned there, because of the conditions and severe overcrowding in the prison.

“The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT) and the European Court of Human Rights have conducted research on the prison and stated that the conditions remain “inhuman and degrading”.

“The prisons visiting conditions for family members also involve little, if any, contact and they are conducted in a harsh environment and strict security.

“I am very concerned about his safety and the prison conditions in this jail and in that context I raised this with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Ireland today.

“Ideally it would be best if he was repatriated and allowed serve out the remainder of his prison sentence in Ireland.

“In the meantime the Lithuanian government have an obligation to improve the conditions of Lukiskes prison.”

ENDS