Italian prosecution failed with its extradition request

01 January 2017 - OLG Karlsruhe stops extradition to Italy - The persecuted person was described in the European arrest warrant as a leading member "capo locale" of the Mafia-association 'Ndrangheta locale V'. Nevertheless, the Italian criminal justice system in Karlsruhe failed with its extradition request, namely the increased requirements of the European arrest warrant.

The description and concretization of the allegation in a European arrest warrant did not convince the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court. Therefore, the OLG Karlsruhe (1 AK 64/15) declared the extradition of the persecuted person to Italy inadmissible at the time.

The decision is based on the current line of jurisprudence of the OLG Karlsruhe to the European Arrest Warrant. According to § 83a IRG, the European arrest warrant should contain at least a detailed description of the circumstances under which the offense was committed, including the time, the crime scene and the exact involvement of the person sought.

The OLG Karlsruhe had previously explained this in several decisions ("Strafverteidiger" 2008, 429, "Strafverteidiger" 2007, 650). The present case fits into the jurisprudence known in specialist circles, which is based on the fact that only the concretization of the charge of prosecution in the European Arrest Warrant often makes it possible to assess the existence of the obstacle of the limitation period under § 9 II IRG.