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Extradition

The Extradition Department at Kaim Todner Ltd, led by Managing Director Karen Todner, is well versed in fighting extradition proceedings from the moment of arrest and appearance at the initial hearing in the Magistrates' court through to appeal proceedings in the High Court of Justice and the Superior Court and ECHR:

The Extradition Act 2003

The Extradition Act 2003 came into force on the 1st of January 2003 and it is designed to make it easier for governments to secure the surrender of persons within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom to states the world over.

Part I deals with territories that are member states of the European Union who operate the new "European Arrest Warrant" scheme. The EAW's are designed to speed up the process of hearing extradition cases so that individuals subject to an extradition request are sent back to the requesting territory far quicker than was possible under the more protracted procedures associated with the 1989 Extradition Act. This has been achieved by removing the need for requesting territories to prove a prime facie case against the defendant, that is to say, states under the 2003 Act are no longer obliged to provide any information other than that contained in the extradition request.

Part II deals with states that, whilst being members of the Council of Europe, are not in the European Union. It is also applicable to members of the British Commonwealth and to the United Kingdom's bi-lateral extradition treaty partners, such as the United States of America.

High Profile Cases represented by Kaim Todner Ltd

Gary McKinnon, accused by Virginia prosecutors of committing "the biggest military computer hack of all time" causing $7,000,000 worth of damage to government computer systems is appealing to the House of Lords. His extradition has attracted intense media attention in the U.K. and across the Atlantic.

Damir Travica, an ethnic Serb from Croatia, is accused by the Croatian government of committing War Crimes during the early part of the civil war which raged throughout the Balkans in the early 1990's. His case has also received intense media coverage in the U.K. & Croatian media.

In addition to these high profile cases, we are defending several clients at various stages of extradition proceedings against the governments of Canada, Poland, Lithuania and Trinidad & Tobago.

Recent Success Stories

The Extradition department at Kaim Todner Ltd have recently secured the discharge of extradition proceedings for clients against the governments of Portugal, Spain and Cyprus as well as the following:

Permission to Appeal to the Supreme Court Granted

We are pleased to announce that on 3rd November 2011, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom granted leave to appeal to the highest Court in the land in two of our European Arrest Warrant cases. More to follow…….

Discharge for two Chinese Nationals requested for Extradition by the United States of America

We are delighted to announce that on 26 October 2011, we secured the discharge of two Chinese business people with no previous convictions, who had been arrested and detained in prison for 66 days, following extradition requests made by the Government of the United States of America.

Withdrawal of EAW following Dual Representation

Following the issue of a German European Arrest Warrant, we represented our Client and were assisted by a German lawyer who obtained certain evidence on our behalf.  Once this was served on the German Issuing Judicial Authority, the EAW was withdrawn.  Without a lawyer in both Germany and England, our Client could have been wrongly extradited.

Withdrawal of EAW following Dual Representation and Translation of Polish Legal Documentation

Our Client was arrested and detained at HMP Wandsworth pursuant to a Polish European Arrest Warrant in order to serve a lengthy custodial sentence from many years ago.  Our Client instructed that he had already completed this sentence in Poland.  It was only through instructing a Polish Lawyer and obtaining a translation of certain legal documents provided to us by our Client’s partner, that we discovered that the Polish Court had released our Client at the end of the sentence.  Our Client’s word was not enough to stop the extradition.  Access to translators and interpreters are essential in Extradition cases.  Without a lawyer in Poland and England, and access to translators and interpreters, our Client would have been wrongly extradited.

 

Extradition proceedings brought by Slovakia

  • Our client's discharge was ordered on the basis that he did not deliberately absent himself from the trial at which he was convicted and he would not be entitled to a retrial if returned to Slovakia. The prosecution appealed but the High Court ruled in our client's favour.

Extradition proceedings brought by the Czech Republic

  • Our client's discharge was ordered in High Court proceedings in which it was ruled that it was not clear whether the Czech authorities wanted our client as an accused person or only for questioning.

Extradition proceedings brought by France

  • Our client's discharge was ordered on the basis that it would be unjust and oppressive to return her to France due to the passage of time that had elapsed between the alleged offence and the extradition request.
  • We obtained our client's discharge in extradition proceedings after negotiating a voluntary return to face proceedings in Southern France, where no custodial sentence was imposed.

Please also visit our Law Guides section for more information; 

Extradition News