EXTRADITION - ONE OF THE OLDEST FORMS OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Extradition is a form of international cooperation in criminal justice and is based on the fact that each country accepts the decisions of courts in other countries. Each country has different views on different crimes and how they should be investigated and punished. The purpose of extradition proceedings is not to establish whether or not a person is guilty of the act on which the extradition warrant is based.

This is a problem that will only be resolved after the wanted person has been brought back to the country that issued the request. The European Arrest Warrant operates on the principle of mutual recognition: judges are obliged to treat the warrant at face value without regard to the facts set out in the warrant or to require the issuing State to show that it has sufficient evidence to handle the case. EU countries also have no right to refuse to extradite their nationals under the European Arrest Warrant procedure.