Extradition is ... International treaties: international law

Do you think to avoid punishment, it is enough to move to another country? Dangerous criminals who traveled abroad are actively sought by the Central Bureau of Interpol. And if the villain is caught, then he is waiting for the trip back home, in order to be brought to trial or to serve a sentence. In the language of jurisprudence, extradition is the extradition of a criminal or an accused by one state to another for investigation and judicial proceedings.

Extradition conditions

It is also worth noting that the extradition of criminals is possible on the basis of an international treaty or without it. It is forbidden to extradite persons who are persecuted at home for political crimes. Russia has significantly stepped up international activity in recent years and is trying to expand it. In particular, the Russian Federation has become a party to more than 300 international treaties, including legal assistance in criminal matters.

International instruments

What do international treaties include? International law indicates that such agreements contain provisions on extradition, the production of judicial, procedural and investigative actions, the transfer of items, as well as the extradition of convicted persons for the enforcement of the sentence of foreign judicial instances. Meanwhile, the obligation to extradite a criminal from a country where he is staying, does not always arise.

The issue of convicts is the right of the state?

It should be noted that the transfer of criminals is the right of the state. However, there are cases when extradition is a mandatory procedure. In particular, if there is a corresponding international treaty, and a number of certain conditions are met. For example, a country that requires the extradition of an attacker must commit not to punish the convicted person for other criminal acts. This means that if the transfer of the offender occurs, it can only be prosecuted under the articles of the Criminal Code that were specified in the request for extradition.

Extradition procedure

Whatever it was, even if countries have an agreement on extradition, the process of extradition of the convict lasts a long time, because in the first place there must be a number of mandatory formalities. 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 seeks its own citizen, sends a request to Interpol's headquarters explaining what and on what grounds the particular person is accused;
• After that, Interpol takes a decision (or refuses) to declare the offender on an international wanted list;
• If such a person is detained in the territory of a foreign state, the local court must adopt an order for the extradition of a person;
• If the court allows such a procedure, then there is a direct transfer of the person sought.

It should be noted that the extradition of criminals (extradition) may take several months. This process is almost always accompanied by a lengthy bureaucratic correspondence.

However, Interpol's participation is not necessary, it is possible to transfer the attacker on the basis of international agreements between the countries. The procedure in this case will be approximately the same. Remember that this procedure is not applied to citizens who committed administrative or civil violations.

Legislative problems

The issue of extradition is decided in different countries in different ways. In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, too, there are norms that regulate the issue of extradition. Nevertheless, many scholars consider the institution of extradition to be irrelevant. This, in particular, is due to the fact that agreements between countries on the extradition of malefactors do not always comply with human rights standards. The most vivid example of such a violation is the situation where the countries have been negotiating for a few years to transfer the accused, and a citizen whose guilt has not even been proven is forced to remain in custody. In addition, it should be noted that extradition is not only a complex and lengthy process, but also a costly process in terms of money. The delivery of the offender, of course, pays the party that filed the request.

Regional and bilateral agreements

Despite the fact that there are some difficulties in issuing intruders, it is simply impossible to do without such an institution. Now in the world there are many bilateral agreements on the transfer of convicts, such acts with many states have been concluded by Russia. The treaty on extradition of the Russian Federation was formalized with almost all the CIS countries (the Minsk Convention of 1993) and dozens of states from Asia. Of the European partners, a bilateral agreement has so far been signed with the two countries - Italy and Lithuania. Also an agreement on extradition exists with one of the Latin American countries - Brazil.

Legal relationship with the USA

It should be noted that Russia did not enter into an agreement with the United States on extradition. However, since 2000 the Russian Federation participates in the European Convention of 1957. Americans adhere to their principles in cooperation with our country:

• To conclude any acts providing for the extradition of criminals is premature;
• Cooperation with the Russian Federation is made only for specific cases, each of them will be considered separately;
• Russia can be issued to its citizens, but only within the procedure of not extradition, but deportation.

Conclusion

So, extradition is an act of legal assistance that is concluded between two interested countries, representing the transfer of a person who committed a criminal offense to serve a sentence or to bring him to criminal liability. To issue or not to extradite a citizen of another country, the state has the right to decide independently. If such a transfer is made, the country that has submitted the request for extradition, agrees to bring its citizen to justice only for those offenses that were specified in the application for extradition. For other crimes, the person is not allowed to be punished within the extradition process. As a rule, an international search for intruders is conducted with the assistance of Interpol.

Many states refuse to extradite foreign citizens if they are charged in their home country for political reasons. In addition, in some cases, another state may refuse to transfer the alien if its legislation does not provide for criminal punishment for the crime that is charged to a person in his homeland. If the person wanted is facing the death penalty or there are good reasons to believe that the state that submitted the request can not 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 a country has filed an extradition request with a view to prosecuting a citizen on the basis of race, sex or nationality, sexual orientation, etc., then it is not extraditable. The extradition process has many nuances, each country has its own rules and regulations on the extradition of criminals.