Client’s Situation
The client — a national of a third country legally residing in Spain — was detained while travelling within the European Union on the basis of: an international arrest warrant, a formal extradition request, allegations of an economic crime in his country of origin. The accusations concerned an alleged large-scale fraud offence. The maximum penalty in the requesting state was up to 12 years of imprisonment. The client maintained that: the criminal proceedings were politically motivated, the evidence had been fabricated, the requesting country demonstrated systemic human rights violations.
First Stage: Urgent Defence Following Detention
After detention under an international warrant, extradition proceedings develop rapidly. We immediately joined the case, filed a motion requesting release on bail, prepared the defence strategy for proceedings before the Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional).
Our Defence Strategy
We analysed the alleged criminal offence and established that: the legal qualification of the offence in the requesting state did not fully correspond to Spanish criminal law, part of the alleged conduct was administrative rather than criminal in nature. We submitted public statements by officials of the requesting state, documentation evidencing similar politically driven prosecutions, expert reports on the human rights situation, materials from international human rights organisations. We demonstrated lack of judicial independence, a high risk of an unfair trial, detention practices involving inhuman conditions. We identified insufficient evidentiary support, inconsistencies in the factual allegations, lack of adequate specificity in the charges.
Court Decision
The court refused the extradition request. Grounds for refusal included: insufficient specification of the charges, doubts regarding procedural guarantees, risk of violation of the client’s fundamental rights. The client was released.
