Do you think that in order to avoid punishment, it is enough to move to another country? The Central Bureau of Interpol is actively looking for dangerous criminals who have gone abroad. And if the villain is caught, then he will have a trip back home to appear in court or serve his sentence. Speaking in the language of jurisprudence, extradition is the extradition of a criminal or accused by one state to another for investigation and trial.
Extradition Conditions
It is also worth noting that extradition of criminals is possible on the basis of an international treaty or without it. The extradition of persons who are prosecuted for political crimes at home is prohibited. Russia in recent years has noticeably intensified international activity and is trying to expand it. In particular, the Russian Federation has become a party to more than 300 international treaties, including the provision of legal assistance in criminal matters.
International acts
What do international treaties include ? International law indicates that such agreements contain provisions on extradition, judicial, procedural and investigative actions, transfer of items, as well as extradition of convicts for execution of a sentence to foreign courts. Meanwhile, the obligation to extradite the offender from the country where he is staying does not always arise.
Is extradition of convicts a state right?
It should be noted that the transfer of criminals is a state law. However, there are times when extradition is a mandatory procedure. In particular, if there is a corresponding international treaty and a number of certain conditions are fulfilled. For example, a country that requires the extradition of an attacker must commit itself not to punish the convicted person for other criminal acts. This means that if the transfer of the offender occurs, he can be prosecuted only under those articles of the Criminal Code that were indicated in the request for extradition.
Extradition Procedure
Be that as it may, even if the countries have an extradition agreement, the process of extradition of a convicted person takes a long time, as a number of mandatory formalities must be followed first. As a rule, such a procedure is carried out with the assistance of Interpol. All this happens as follows:
- the state prosecutor’s office, which is looking for its citizen, sends a request to the headquarters of Interpol explaining what and on what basis a particular person is charged
- after that, Interpol decides (or refuses) to declare the offender internationally wanted;
- if such a person is detained in the territory of a foreign state, the local court must adopt a decision on the extradition of the person;
- if the court allows this procedure, then the direct transfer of the wanted person takes place.
It should be noted that the extradition of criminals (extradition) may take several months. This process is almost always accompanied by lengthy bureaucratic correspondence.
However, the participation of Interpol is not necessary at all, it is possible to transfer an attacker on the basis of international agreements between countries. The procedure in this case will be approximately the same. Remember that this procedure does not apply to citizens who have committed administrative or civil offenses.
Legislative issues
The issue of extradition is dealt with differently in different countries. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also has rules that govern extradition issues. Nevertheless, many scholars consider the institution of extradition irrelevant. This, in particular, is explained by the fact that agreements between countries on the extradition of malefactors do not always comply with human rights standards. The most striking example of such a violation is a situation where countries have been negotiating with each other for several years to transfer the accused, and a citizen whose guilt has not even been proven is forced to sit in custody. In addition, it should be noted that extradition is not only a complex and lengthy, but also a costly process in terms of cash. Naturally, the party that filed the request pays for the delivery of the criminal.
Regional and bilateral agreements
Despite the fact that some difficulties arise in extraditing attackers, it is simply impossible to do without such an institution. Now in the world there are many bilateral agreements on the transfer of convicts, and Russia has concluded such acts with many states. The Russian Federation signed an extradition treaty with almost all the CIS countries (1993 Minsk Convention) and dozens of Asian countries. Of the European partners, a bilateral agreement has so far been signed with two countries - Italy and Lithuania. An extradition agreement exists with one of the Latin American countries - Brazil.
US legal relationship
It should be noted that Russia did not conclude an agreement with the United States on extradition. However, since 2000, the Russian Federation has been participating in the 1957 European Convention. Americans adhere to their principles in cooperation with our country:
- to conclude any acts providing for the extradition of criminals, so far prematurely;
- cooperation with the Russian Federation is carried out only on specific cases, each of them will be considered separately;
- Russia may be extradited to its citizens, but only within the framework of the procedure not of extradition, but of deportation.
Conclusion
So, extradition is an act of legal assistance that is concluded between two interested countries, which is the transfer of a person who has committed a criminal offense to serve his sentence or to bring him to criminal liability. The state has the right to decide whether or not to extradite a citizen of another country. If such a transfer is made, then the country that filed the request for extradition is obligated to hold its citizen liable only for those offenses that were indicated in the request for extradition. For other crimes, punishing a person as part of the extradition process is not permitted. As a rule, the international search for attackers is carried out with the assistance of Interpol.
Many states refuse to extradite foreign nationals if they are charged in their home country for political reasons. In addition, in some cases, another state may refuse to transfer a foreigner if its legislation does not criminalize the crime that is incriminated to a person in his homeland. If the wanted person faces the death penalty or there is good reason to believe that the state that filed the request cannot provide fair justice, then the country where such a person is located also has the full right to refuse extradition. In addition, if there is a suspicion that the country has filed a request for extradition in order to prosecute a citizen on the basis of his race, gender or nationality, sexual orientation, etc., then he is not subject to extradition. The extradition process has many nuances; each country has its own rules and regulations on extradition of criminals.