How can an Extradition Solicitor Help You?

By having a professional extradition solicitor aiding you, you can gain the benefits of a quick response to an increasingly fast-paced process.

Extradition solicitors can provide the best possible bail packages and will be better equipped to getting the request for extradition withdrawn.

Extradition solicitors can offer a range of solutions including the possibility of negotiated sentences and plea bargaining. These are extremely important tools that may save the stress and cost of awaiting a court trial.

Extradition solicitors are aware of the potential threats or vulnerability of individuals and companies who possess international business links.

The process of extradition can be very stressful and requires a calm, experienced and fast thinking aide in order to save any extra upset.

Hiring an experienced, quality extradition solicitor can ensure the difference of a trial, an exception and ultimately becoming forcibly extradited.

Knowledge of the various and changing laws of extradition is crucial and without legal aid

 

What does an Extradition Solicitor Do?

With the delicate and political nature of extradition, an extradition solicitor must have adequate and demonstrable experience when dealing with such a complex and technical facet of the law.

Offering advice for all stages of extradition proceedings, an extradition solicitor can offer guidance for:

-pre-arrest

-police station on arrest

-and representation in court

Early advice is particularly important in fast moving extradition cases such as the European Arrest Warrant or EAW. This scheme is designed to increase the ease of extradition across EU countries by making the process faster.

This means that certain phases of the previous administrative process will be removed making the available time to act, increasingly limited.

What is an Extradition Solicitor?

As mentioned earlier, if a crime is committed in country A whilst residing in country B,extradition law states that he/she be extradited back to country A in order to be tried.

Complications arise however when the requesting state may seem to have improper motives.

For example, a person being extradited on the basis of a political offence may in fact be hiding, or disguising, a different persecution, say for religious beliefs.

For this reason, extradition solicitors are provided to support and guide their client, ensuring their interests are always protected.

What is Extradition?

Extradition is when a person, who has been charged with a crime, has fled the state or country, and is then transferred back to the necessary court in order to sit trial or serve his or her sentence.

If a person commits a crime in country A but is residing in country B extradition states that he/she be extradited back to country A in order to be tried.

Even if country B does not have an extradition arrangement with the UK, there is still the possibility of extraneous arrangements with the right representation.

The law of extradition underwent a fundamental revision with the introduction of the Extradition Act 2003.

This revision was based upon the need for speed when tackling international crime and terrorism.

Until recently there were four primary exceptions or safeguards against the extradition order, these include:

  • Double Criminality – whereby the offence apparently committed in country A must also be considered an offence in country B.
  • Speciality – in that the person accused would not proceed for any other offences apart from the one for which the extradition was initially sought.
  • Political Offence – originally refused in English courts, the crime for ‘political offences’ has changed however with the Suppression of Terrorism Act 1978.
  • Double Jeopardy – where the accused person cannot be tried for the same crime twice.

Whereas previous extradition protections had allowed for a larger degree of safeguarding, the 2003 Act no longer includes the political offence exception and the requirement of ‘double criminality’ has been significantly reduced.