INTERIM AND FULL EXTRADITION HEARINGS

Members of chambers conduct extradition hearings both for requested persons and for requesting judicial authorities first instance, interim hearings through to full extradition hearings.

Some members are on the Crown Prosecution Service Specialist Extradition Panel

Extradition is the formal process for requesting the surrender of requested persons from one territory to another. Prosecutors can use extradition when they need to secure the surrender of a person from another country to England and Wales for the purpose of:

Prosecution;

  • Sentencing for an offence for which the person has already been convicted; or
  • Carrying out of a sentence that has already been imposed.

Initial hearing

At the initial hearing the judge must:

  • confirm the identity of the requested person (ie that the person brought before him or her is the person named on the warrant)
  • inform the person about the procedures for consenting to his or her extradition
  • fix a date for the extradition hearing if the requested person does not to consent to his or her extradition

Extradition hearing

An extradition hearing should normally begin within 21 days of arrest.

The judge must be satisfied that the conduct described in the warrant amounts to an extradition offence (including, in almost all cases, the requirement that the conduct would amount to a criminal offence were it to have occurred in the UK, and minimum levels of severity of punishment), and that none of the statutory bars to extradition apply.

If none of the bars apply, the judge must next decide if extradition would be disproportionate or would be incompatible with the requested person’s human rights. If the judge decides it would be both proportionate and compatible, extradition must be ordered.

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