Extradition

Chambers has a core group of specialist barristers with a wealth of experience in:

  • Defending extradition requests
  • Prosecuting extradition requests
  • Applying for, and responding to, requests for Mutual Legal Assistance from foreign jurisdictions
  • Closed Material Procedures

Members of chambers regularly:

  • Offer practical advice to those who are concerned that alleged misconduct might trigger an extradition request
  • Secure bail at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on first appearances
  • Conduct contested hearings at CoWMC and appeals to the Administrative Court
  • Make application to the European Court of Human Rights and seek injunctive relief to prevent removal
  • Advise in relation to the withdrawal of Interpol ‘Red Notices’
  • Arrange and assist in ‘profer-type’ interviews with foreign judicial authorities in the UK
  • Continue to monitor the health and wellbeing of extraditees

Recently, we have advised and represented:

  • Requested persons in Part 1, European Arrest Warrant cases, relating to Hungary, Romania, Spain, Germany, and Italy
  • Requested Persons in Part 2 requests to USA, UAE, Russia, South Africa and Peru
  • Numerous judicial authorities, through the Crown Prosecution Service, Specialist Extradition Panel

Those extradition requests run the gamut of criminal offences including fraud, murder, terrorism and serious sexual offences and have raised novel legal arguments in relation to:

  • Article 3 – prison conditions and ill-health
  • Article 3 – prison violence and non-state actors
  • Article 6 – fair trial rights and judicial corruption
  • Article 8 – right to family life and the interests of children and carers
  • The ‘forum bar’
  • Proportionality
  • The admissibility of covertly intercepted communications and the role of domestic security and intelligence services

Significant cases include:

  • A Part 2 request in relation to a UK based director of a UAE airline business, alleged to have dishonoured post-dated cheques drawn on the company account for the payment of aviation fuel. We successfully resisted extradition after presenting evidence relating to the existence of an ongoing contractual dispute and a hostile corporate takeover, establishing what amounted to a malicious private prosecution in Dubai.
  • A Part 1 request issued by Hungary in relation to a mother of three children who had suffered domestic violence. The RP’s extradition was sought for a serious assault on her abusive ex-partner. We obtained expert psychological evidence establishing the harm that would be caused to the children if their mother was removed, leading to successful application to discharge on article 8, family, grounds.
  • A Part 1 request in relation to an elderly UK based businessman to Spain for a significant alleged “advance-fee fraud”. We obtained expert medical evidence establishing the unique nature of the treatment he was receiving in a novel prostate cancer trial in the UK, leading to a successful application to discharge on article 3, health, grounds.
  • Members have built on experience of prosecution gained by completing secondments to the CPS Extradition Unit and remain active on the Specialist Extradition Panel.

 

 

Extradition Barristers

 

Extradition News and Events

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