In Law there is a legal process that applies to antisocial people who are sought internationally and try to hide and avoid justice in countries outside where the crime was committed, we are talking about the extradition process.
This process is governed by the extradition treaties that are created between countries, in addition to the laws of each nation. Which will be effective as long as these agreements exist, in order to capture the criminal and / or continue the sentence that was granted, is a delicate process that is carried out by international and national entities.
About the extradition process
Extradition is defined as a judicial process in which a State requests the return of a defendant for some serious crime, who has been imprisoned in another country by an international arrest warrant, in order to convict or continue the sentence that has already been imposed.
This process is governed by the agreements that have been agreed between countries and the laws that have been written about the process in each country, since for the process to be effective, the two countries of the agreement must sign and authorize the continuation of the process. It should be noted that if one of the countries is not in the agreements, the State may request it, but the country will not have the obligation to do so.
Origin of the process
The extradition process began to be discussed in the 19th century in Great Britain and the United States, which at first was considered illegal for the protection of some politicians, in order to avoid that these people who committed political crimes did not get extradited.
Because of this situation, the doctrine decided to divide the concepts of political and ordinary crime, the second being the one considered for this process, thus remaining so that anyone who commits an ordinary criminal offense can be considered to be subjected to the extradition process.
Crimes that cause the extradition process
The crimes that merit going through the extradition process are only considered ordinary extraditable crimes, since political crimes do not fall under the extradition laws. It should be noted that the presumed crime must be considered a crime in the country to which the extradition process is being required, in addition to having a minimum penalty.
As an example, the extradition treaty between Venezuela and Spain can be given, in which the two countries reciprocally ensure the delivery of the accused or person sought internationally by the state or if there is a tax offense, the country that is required will not be able to avoid or deny the existence of any tax to the country by reason of denial, among other points that were taken at the time of the creation of this treaty.
How is the extradition process conducted?
In general, the extradition process will be carried out as long as the crime that has been committed is considered that way in both nations. For example, in the extradition treaty between Colombia and the United States, the order will be carried out by the ambassadors of said countries through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which asks the Ministry of Justice to consider and evaluate the documents sent for, then be sent to the Supreme Court for review and issuance.
In said extradition treaty, the process will be carried out and taken into account in common crimes, such as drug trafficking, money laundering, in others, which already have a maximum penalty and have an important impact on society, except for political crimes that do not will be taken into account for this process.
Requirements to carry out the extradition process
Being a process that is governed by the treaties between the countries and the laws of each one, the requirements to start the process may vary, in the case of Spain, the Passive Extradition Law (LEP) is the one that regulates the minimum requirements to proceed with the process in the country.
In its article 7 it states that the request will be processed diplomatically or directly in writing from the Ministry of Justice of the country requesting to the Spanish Ministry of Justice, which must be accompanied by:
- The conviction, accusation, or resolution issued according to the legislation of the country with details of what happened, date and place.
- All information about the accused, such as identity, photograph, nationality, place of residence, fingerprints, among others.
- Copy of the legal texts that detail the type of sanction applicable
Establishment of the sentence
Certainly it should not be avoided to mention that this process is governed and becomes effective if there is a conviction in the country that is being requested, the conviction is issued by the country. But since it is an international process, the only thing that can be considered in the process is that the penalty for extradition of the accused to be applied is in accordance with the type of conviction of the country of birth.
Characteristics and types of extradition processes
In the extradition process, a governmental body, courts or both institutions may intervene at the same time if it were to make the case, according to the statutes of the Dominican Republic, it defines the two types of extradition process as follows:
- Active extradition process, is when the news is given that some defendant, who has been presented with a measure of deprivation of liberty, is in a foreign country, the competent judge or court has the power to order the process of corresponding extradition, so that it is subjected to judicial and criminal proceedings.
- Passive extradition process, on the other hand, this type of process is the formal delivery of a State of an individual who has been requested by a country for common crimes committed to be subjected to judicial processes.
However, each treaty of each country specifies different measures to carry out the process, generally something common among treaties of this nature requires that the requesting State demonstrate with conclusive evidence the existence of the cause to prosecute the accused or that the crime is specified as such in the legislation of the country that has been required.
Entities in charge of ensuring the extradition process
Apart from the governmental entities of each country that is found in the extradition treaties, there is an international entity whose job it is to provide assistance to the countries at the international level for the capture of the wanted individual, we are talking about INTERPOL.
The International Criminal Police Organization, better known as ‘Interpol’, is an intergovernmental organization that has approximately 194 countries as part of it. The police are in charge of providing support and working together with the police and institutions of these countries through the police database with information on crimes and offenders, the information of which is available in real time for the countries.
Notifications from the International Criminal Police Organization
Something that stands out from Interpol, are the notifications that serve as an international alert which allows the police of the member countries to share any type of information that is necessary and important in relation to the crime. These notifications are issued by the General Secretariat of Interpol, by order of the National Central Offices (NCO) and authorized entities; they will be sent in the official languages ??of the Organization, Arabic, French, Spanish and English.
One of the most sensitive and extremely emergency types of notifications are the ‘Red Notifications’ in which the person or group of people involved are sought by national jurisdictions, these notifications are requested based on an arrest warrant or a judicial resolution.
Interpol’s role is to provide its services to the national police forces of each member country, in the search and identification of these antisocials with the aim of arresting and capturing them to proceed with the extradition process.
