Extradition to Azerbaijan from Germany is possible in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition of 13 December 1957, although the reservations and declarations made by the Federal Republic of Germany for extradition to Azerbaijan under Articles 6, 21, 23 and 27 of the Convention (BGBl. 1976 II p. 1778) must be observed.

no extradition of German nationals

Extradition of German nationals to Azerbaijan is precluded by Article 16 II 1 of the German Basic Law. But it is possible to extradite foreigners to Azerbaijan for fiscal offences.

Provisional extradition detention can already be ordered in Germany on the basis of the Interpol search for a person, if extradition to Azerbaijan is foreseeable.

Extradition to Azerbaijan - corrupt judicial system

In 2012, Azerbaijan shared 139th place in the world with Kenya and Nigeria in the so-called "corruption perception index". The corruption perception index, also known as the Corruption Index, has been collected by the non-governmental organization Transparency International in around 180 countries since 1995, and according to it Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

inhumane prisons in Azerbaijan

Corruption, deeply rooted in the tradition of a country, traditionally also affects the justice system of the state. When extradition requests from such countries are received in Germany, the German judiciary is confronted with the responsibility for the imponderable fate of a persecuted person after extradition. Countries in the lower third of Transparency International's ranking of corruption are almost always notorious for inhuman detention conditions and questionable decisions by the judiciary.

Nevertheless, extradition requests from such countries in Germany are examined in the same procedure as all others. There is also a great risk of extradition because as a matter of principle there is no examination of the suspicion of an offence in extradition proceedings and the requesting state can provide guarantees for the persecuted person with regard to the conditions of detention and the rule of law of the proceedings to be expected, namely so-called "assurances".

That's why Higher Regional Court Bremen - in a case we later represented - in October 2010 (2 AuslA 21/10) issued an extradition arrest warrant. In January 2011 the previously issued extradition arrest warrant was revoked after the Federal Office of Justice has been involved. Since then, extradition traffic with Azerbaijan has been completely suspended for some time and then placed under strict conditions.

In 2009, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne was able to resolve a case from Azerbaijan with the help of the statute of limitations and has drawn up the following guideline for this individual case: "The extradition of the person persecuted to Azerbaijan was inadmissible in the case to be decided due to the statute of limitations. The Republic of Azerbaijan has acceded to the European Convention on Extradition (EuAlÜbK) ".

The "Amnesty Report" of May 26, 2016 says, among other things: "Torture and other ill-treatment continued to be the order of the day in 2015 without those responsible being held accountable. ... Effective investigations and prosecution have been omitted in such cases."

unacceptable detention conditions in Azerbaijan

On the website of the Council of Europe you could already read on 5 October 2015 that the Council of Europe received alarming reports about unacceptable detention conditions in Azerbaijan, which in my opinion must prevent extradition to Azerbaijan.