Court Appearances

Once someone is arrested on an Extradition warrant they must be taken to Court as soon as possible, if the requested person has not been given a copy of the warrant he may apply to the judge to discharge his/her case and the judge may do so. If however the person has not been brought to the court as soon as practicable after arrest, the judge must discharge his/her case.

Once the Court has checked that an arrest warrant is valid, they then will consider whether there are any reasons why that person must be extradited. If there are reasons to fight the Extradition, it is important that these are outlined while the case is at the Magistrates Court, because new facts will not always be considered if a requested person wants to appeal a Magistrates decision to extradite them.

After the first hearing, the Court will normally set a date for the full Extradition Hearing to take place, where the lawyers acting for the Country that seeks extradition will put forward their reasons for extradition, and the defendant (normally through his/her lawyers) will put forward the legal arguments against the person being extradited.


 

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