EXTRADITION CASES

Our department is specialised in both extradition cases and surrender cases.

The difference between extradition and surrender
What exactly is extradition and surrender?
Extradition cases involve a country outside of the European Union requesting the State of the Netherlands to send you to that country because criminal proceedings are pending against you in that country or because you have to serve a sentence there.

Surrender cases involve a country within the European Union requesting the State of the Netherlands to send you to that country for the abovementioned reasons.

You can institute an appeal in cassation of the decision of the Court in an extradition case. This means that the Supreme Court will review the decision. Even after that, you can request that the Ministry of Justice keep the extradition from taking place. Finally, it is possible to institute Interlocutory Proceedings with the Civil Court. However, this is only possible in emergencies.

The surrender procedure is significantly shorter and simpler. In principle, the Court must arrive at a decision within 60 days of receipt of the request for surrender.

It is not possible to institute an appeal in cassation of a decision of the Court in a surrender procedure, nor is it possible to appeal to the Ministry of Justice to refuse the surrender.

If the event that the surrender is permitted, you will actually be transferred to the authorities of the relevant country within 7 days of the decision.

The Court of Amsterdam has the exclusive right to decide in surrender cases. Every Court in the country may decide in respect of extradition cases.

It does not matter to us whether you live in the Netherlands or abroad. We can represent you both in the Netherlands and abroad. Our department will represent you in these proceedings, and will make every effort to prevent you from being sent to the requesting country or – if you do not object to this – advise and represent you in these proceedings.

However, if it looks like you will be extradited or surrendered, we will make every effort to arrange for a lawyer to take on the case at your destination. This lawyer will be charged with making your stay there as short as possible.

WOTS procedure
In a WOTS (Wet Overdracht Tenuitvoerlegging Strafvonnissen – the Dutch Enforcement of Criminal Judgments (Transfer) Act) procedure, we will make every effort to get you back to the Netherlands as soon as possible. Following such a transfer, the punishment will be converted to Dutch standards. You may have to serve a sentence in the Netherlands, but you may also be let go as soon as you arrive here.