By Judgment of March 6, 2020, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court in Madrid denies extradition of British citizen (…), requested by the authorities of the Kingdom of Thailand, since those authorities had not offered enough guarantees not to apply death penalty.
After a tortuous court process, almost half a year in length, which began with the arrest of the required person at the Malaga airport in October 2018, the Third Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court has resolved favorably to the petition of the extraditable, accepting the allegations made by his defense, in the charge of the Spanish lawyer Antonio Pedro Rodríguez Bernal.
During the procedure, which included two appeals, as a result of which the requested person was released without bail -although with certain precautionary measures- the legal-criminal system of the Kingdom of Thailand was thoroughly evaluated.
The resolution took place after the exhaustion of all the instances contemplated in the Act of Passive Extradition of 1985: hearing at the Central Investigating Court (Juzgado Central de Instrucción Nº 5 de Madrid), trial held in the Criminal Chamber of the National Court (Sección Tercera de la Sala de lo Penal de la Audiencia Nacional en Madrid) and appeal to Audiencia Nacional in full.
We thank the Department of Public International Law of the UNED for the elaboration of the valuable expert report on the situation of human rights in Thailand, prepared in a very short period of time, which was used by the Defense. That evidence, that was admitted at the hearing and that contained relevant information, surely contributed to the favorable outcome.
This case was followed by some British broadcast media.
Antonio Pedro Rodríguez Berna is an experienced criminal lawyer and recognized specialist in extradition procedures.
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