The Netherlands must extradite Polish nationals to Poland for trial in principle, even though the legal system there is under pressure, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday.

Even if there is evidence that judicial independence has been compromised, this in itself does not justify a European arrest warrant being refused because suspects should not be able to avoid a trial, the court said.

The district court in Amsterdam referred the issue to the Court of Justice earlier this year after refusing to extradite two Polish nationals on the grounds that the Polish judicial system was no longer independent.

This, the Amsterdam court said, meant it could not guarantee the right of a fair trial to anyone extradited there.

The Advocate General had already said that extradition requests should not be refused lightly otherwise a large number of offences would go unpunished.

The European court did say that judges should look at individual circumstances. An arrest warrant should be refused if, after thorough research, it appears that the person would be in actual danger after their extradition and that they would not have the right to a fair trial, the court said.