What is an extradition treaty?
An extradition treaty refers to a country that, at the request of another country, transfers a person accused or convicted in its territory to that country for trial or punishment. Behavior. It is a form of criminal judicial assistance between countries.
Objects requesting extradition
The subjects requesting extradition, that is, the countries that have the right to request extradition, fall into the following three categories:
1. The country to which the criminal belongs. On the basis of personal superiority.
2. The country where the crime occurred. on the basis of geographical advantages.
3. Affected countries. Based on protective jurisdiction. If several countries request extradition for the same crime at the same time, what should the requested country do? The general rule is: the country where the crime occurred has priority; if there are several crimes, according to the laws of the requested country, the country where the most serious crime occurred takes precedence; if they are equally serious, it will be decided according to the order of request.
The subject of extradition
The subject of extradition refers to a person accused of a crime by another country. They may be nationals of the country requesting extradition, nationals of the requested country, third-country nationals or stateless persons. Among them, nationals of the requested country, except for a few countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, have refused extradition. The reason why Britain and the United States did not refuse was because of their stubborn territorialism in criminal law and the principle that domestic crimes should not be punished in foreign countries. Another question is, if the subject of extradition is a person from a third country, do the requesting and requested countries have an obligation to notify the third country? There are differences in theory, but no rules in practice. The general trend is that based on territorial advantages, the requesting country has no obligation to notify; based on the third country's right of personal superiority, especially the right to protect overseas Chinese, the requested country should notify, but it is not obligated.
Conditions and procedures for extradition
The crime that can be used as a condition for extradition must be an act that is considered a crime by the laws of both the requested country and the requested country, and must be sentenced to at least a certain amount of time. period of imprisonment, the so-called "sameness principle", also known as the principle of double criminality, or at least an offense under an extradition treaty. Generally, they are ordinary criminal offences, war crimes, hijacking crimes, etc. Minor crimes, such as police offenses, do not constitute a condition for extradition. In addition, some extradition treaties specifically stipulate the reasons why extradition is not allowed. For example, if a citizen of the requested State Party commits a crime in the requested State Party and cannot be sentenced due to statute of limitations or other reasons under the laws of the requested State Party, or the requested State Party has already made a judgment on the crime of extradition or Decided not to prosecute. At the same time, extradition treaties generally stipulate that political prisoners, religious crimes and violations of military law, such as desertion, will not be extradited. Requests for the extradition of criminals are usually processed through diplomatic channels. The request is usually made through an extradition request, conveyed by a diplomatic or consular representative or the national government, and accompanied by evidence of a crime. The requesting State must accept the request within a certain period of time after being notified of the time and place of the decision to surrender the offender, usually at the appropriate border. Once received, the extradition process is complete. The requesting country can only try or execute the sentence for the crime for which extradition was requested and granted. This is the so-called "principle of single-mindedness". Otherwise, the requested State has the right to lodge a protest. The requesting country generally cannot extradite criminals to a third country without the consent of the requested country.
Extradition is a form of judicial assistance between our countries to solve the problem of sending some criminals back to their countries. If you have more legal questions about extradition treaties, you can consult a lawyer.