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EXTRADITION LAW

As a measure of international legal and administrative assistance, extradition detention is part of the criminal prosecution carried out against the person being prosecuted.

According to Section 14 (1) of the International Criminal Court Act (IAG), the Higher Regional Court and the public prosecutor’s office at the Higher Regional Court have local jurisdiction in the district in which the person sought is apprehended for the purpose of extradition or, if apprehended, is first investigated.

In principle, extradition only takes place to states that themselves extradite (so-called principle of reciprocity).

The principle of reciprocity states that the act complained of by the requesting State is also punishable in the requested State.

In addition, according to the principle of double criminality, the corresponding conduct must also be a criminal offense under German law.

According to Section 10 (2) of the International Criminal Law Act (IRG), an examination of suspicion regarding the criminal offenses alleged against a person by the requesting state takes place in extradition proceedings only in very exceptional cases.

The requesting state must also observe the principle of specialty (Section 11 of the International Criminal Law Act). Without the consent of the requested state, offenses other than those for which extradition was requested may not be prosecuted.

In extradition proceedings in Germany, we are confronted with states whose human rights standards are truly abysmal.

In 1989, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) therefore established the special responsibility of European courts for those persecuted in extradition proceedings.

Therefore, extradition is inadmissible, inter alia, if there are serious grounds for believing that, if extradited, the person sought would be persecuted or punished on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinions, or that his situation would be made more difficult for any of these reasons.

Furthermore, the person being pursued in the requesting state:

  • threatened with torture or inhuman treatment,

  • Threat of political or other unconstitutional persecution, Section 6 para. 2 IRG

  • Military crimes, § 7 IRG

  • Imminent death penalty in the requesting state, Section 8 IRG

  • Threatening double punishment, Section 9 No. 1 IRG

  • Limitation of the crime, Section 9 No. 2 IRG

Extradition of the person being prosecuted for criminal prosecution is inadmissible due to the lack of an assurance that the prosecution authorities of the requesting state will comply with the rules of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950.

My work naturally also includes providing on-site advice to clients abroad who are the target of a German extradition request or who fear being so.

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