The European Convention on extradition ("Extradition") was signed in Paris on December 13, 1957. In Republic of Armenia  the Convention entered into force on 25 April 2002.

In accordance with the European Convention on Extradition  the Contracting Parties undertake to surrender to each other,  all persons against whom the competent authorities of the requesting Party are proceeding for an offence or who are wanted by the authorities for enforcement of the sentence or detention taking into  consideration all the  terms  of  this  convention.
In this case, "the plaintiff" is the state in which the crime was committed and the action was filed  by the competent authorities of that State, and that person was declared wanted, it implies that a crime committed person  has  taken  flight from the State where the crime was committed.

In accordance with the European Convention on Extradition that a  Party Armenia may require the extradition of the person from the competent authorities of another  Party  where  the  mentioned  person was  found.
However, extradition must be executed only in such cases when the committed  crime is punished by the legislation of both parties (it includes both the state authorities who  filed the action, and the State in whose territory the person who committed the crime was discovered),  by imprisonment  for not less than one year or more, or a more severe punishment.

The European Convention on the Transfer of sentenced persons was signed in Strasburg on March 21, 1983. For the Republic of Armenia  the Convention entered into force on 1  September 2001.

In accordance with the European Convention on the Transfer of sentenced persons, а person sentenced in the territory of a Party may be transferred to the territory of another Party, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, in order to serve the sentence imposed on him.

In connection  with this he may express his interest to the sentencing State or to the administering State in being transferred under this Convention.

By the way,  the  transfer may be requested either  by  the  sentencing State or the administering State.
In accordance with the provisions of this Convention, the transfer may take place only in the presence of a number of circumstances from which basically have to be pointed out the following, if the sentenced person is  the  citizen of the State of enforcement, and the judgment shall be final, that is to enter into force.

It should be noted that in addition to the above-mentioned European Convention, with Russian Federation  there  exist  two international agreements regulating  this  relations.

Convention  on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family, and Criminal cases, signed on January 22, 1993 in Minsk between  CIS countries, which set out articles regulating the relations regarding the transfer of persons who committed the crime, and "Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced to prison to serve out their sentence,"  signed on March 6, 1998 in Moscow between CIS countries.

Above  mentioned both conventions according to  their usage contain  the  same  elements as compared  with the European Convention.

Extradition in international law and jurisprudence for extradition in Armenia

CRIMINAL CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
(amended and restated as of 16.12.2006)
18.04.2003 
Non official translation

Article 14. The effect of the criminal law with regard to persons who committed crime in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

1. The person who committed a crime in the territory of the Republic of Armenia is subject to liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.
2. The crime is considered committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia when:
1) it started, continued or finished in the territory of the Republic of Armenia;
2) it was committed in complicity with the persons who committed crimes in other countries.
3. In case of crimes committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and other states, the person’s liability arises under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if the person was subjected to criminal liability in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and unless an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia prescribes otherwise.
4. The person who committed a crime on board of a ship or flying aircraft bearing the flag or the identification of the Republic of Armenia is subject to criminal liability, regardless of their whereabouts, under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, unless otherwise stipulated in an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia. Also subject to liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, is the person who committed a crime on board of a military ship or aircraft of the Republic of Armenia, regardless of their location
5. The issue of the criminal liability of foreign diplomatic representatives and other persons enjoying diplomatic immunity, in the case of committal of crime by the latter in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, is resolved in accordance with the norms of international law.

Article 15. Effect of criminal law with regard to persons who committed crimes outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

1. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as stateless persons permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if the act committed by them is recognized as a crime in the legislation of the state where the crime was committed, and if they were not convicted in another state. When convicting the above mentioned persons, the punishment can not exceed the upper limit for punishment in the state where the crime was committed.
2. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as stateless persons permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under Articles 384, 386-391, 393-397 of this Criminal Code, regardless whether the act is considered or not considered a crime in the state where the crime was committed.
3. Foreign citizens and stateless persons not permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, who committed a crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if they committed:
1) such crimes which are provided in an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia;
2) such grave and particularly grave crimes which are directed against the interests of the Republic of Armenia or  the rights and freedoms of the RA citizens.
4. The rules established in part 3 of this Article are applicable if the foreign citizens and stateless persons not permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, have not been convicted for this crime in another state and are subjected to criminal liability in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

Article 16. Extradition of persons who committed a crime.

1. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed a crime in another state are not extradited to that state.
2. In accordance with an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia, the foreign citizens and the stateless persons who committed a crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia and who find themselves in the Republic of Armenia, can be extradited to a foreign state, for criminal liability or to serve the punishment.
3. The persons specified in part 2 of this Article are not extradited to foreign states if there are serious reasons to believe that they can be subjected to torture there.
4. If the legislation of the country seeking extradition of persons who committed a crime envisages death penalty for the given crime, then the extradition of persons who committed a crime can be turned down, unless the party seeking extradition presents satisfying assurances to this country that the death penalty will not be executed.
5. In case of refusal to extradite the person who committed a crime, the prosecution for the crime committed in the territory of a foreign country is done in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

Article 17. Legal significance of a person’s conviction outside the RA

1. The court ruling in a foreign country can be taken into account, provided the RA citizen, foreign citizen or a stateless person was convicted for a crime committed outside the RA, and committed a repeated crime in the RA.
2. In accordance with part 1 of this article, recidivism, unserved punishment or other legal consequences of a foreign court ruling are taken into account when qualifying the new crime, assigning punishment, and exempting from criminal liability or punishment.


CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
(amended and restated as of 10.01.2002)

01.07.1998 
Non official translation

Article 477. Implementation of instru ctions to perform procedural actions .

 The court, the prosecutor, the investigator, the inquest body, per form their instructions as  established in this Code, based on general rules.  When performing the instructions , the procedural norms of  the foreign country can be applied, if this is envisaged in the inte rnational treaty signed with this country.  In cases envisaged in the international treaty, when implem,enting the instruction, the  representative from the appropriate institution of the
foreign country can be present. If the instruction can not be implemented, the received documents are returned through the ministry of justice or the procuracy to the institution from which the instruction came, indicating the reasons which prevented its implementation. The instruction is returned in all cases, if its implementation can affect the independence or securityof the Republic of Armenia, or contradicts the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

Article 478. Sending the case materials for  continuation of the criminal prosecution

In the case of the crime commi tted by a foreign citizen in t he territory of the Republic of  Armenia and in the case of his departure from the country, all materials of the initiated  case are forwarded to the procuracty of the Republic of Armenia which decides the issue of sending them to the appropriate institutions of the foreign country for the continuation of
the investigation.

Article 479. Implementation of the application for the continuation of criminal prosecution or initiation of criminal prosection .

The application of the appropriate institution of the foreign country concerning the crime committed by a citizen of the Republic of Armenia in the foreign country who returned to Armenia, for further investigation, is considered by the procuracy of the Republic of Armenia. In such cases, the preliminary investigation of the case and trial is done as envisaged in the procedure of this Code.

The evidences received while conducting the investigation in a foreign country, within his jurisdiction, by the authorized official, in the case of continuation of the investigation in the Republic of Armenia, have equal legal
rights with all other evidences.

The authorized body in the Republic of Armenia can initiate a criminal case and investigate that, prior to the in
itiation of the criminal case bythe appropriate bodies in the foreign country where a citizen of the Repub
lic of Armenia committed a crime and then returned to this country.

Article 480. Extradition in Armenia

The institution which received the request must, when required, extradite the person who is in the territory of its countryin order to subject him to criminal liability or to execute a court verdict.

Extradition for subjecting the person to criminal liability is done for actions which are considered punishable in the country which sent the request and country which received it, and the envisaged punishment is in the form of imprisonment for not less than 1 year.

Extradition for the execution ofthe verdict is done for those actions which are considered punishable in the country which sent the request and country which received it, and the person was sentenced to no less than six
months of imprisonment or more.

Article 481. Refusal from extradition

Extradition is not allowed, if: at the moment of the receipt of the requirement, appropriate criminal prosecution can not be initiated in the legislation of the inquiring country or the verdict can not be executed for reasons of expiration of the prescription period, or on other legal grounds; a verdict or decision to terminate the proceedingsor criminal prosecution which came into effect, has already been executed in relation to the person.

It is allowed to refuse from extradition, if: the person whose extradition is required is the citizen of the country which received the request or he was granted a political asylum;
the crime was committed in the territory of
the country which received the request;
the person whose extradition is required is prosecuted for political, racial or religious reasons.
The person whose extradition is required is prosecuted for the commitment of a military crime in peaceful time;
The country which applied for extradition doesnot provide reciprocity in this domain.

Article 482. The content of the extradition requirement

The extradition requirement must contain: the name of the sender
of the request;
description of the factual circumstances of the action and the original text of the law of the country which sends the request, based on which this action is considered a crime;
the name and surname of the person who is liable to extradition, his citizenship, residence and, if possible, other data;
a note on the damage inflicted by the crime.

Attached to the requirement for extradition, should be a certified copy of the decision to arrest the person.

Attached to the requirement to extradite to execute a verdict, should be a certified copy of the verdict, with a note when it came into legal force and criminal law article which was used to sentence this person. If the convict has already served part of the punishment, information about that is also communicated.

Article 483. Additional information

If the extradition requirement doesnot contain all necessary information, the institution which received the request can require additional information.

For that, up 1 month term can be envisioned.
If the institution which presented the request fails to submit additional information, the institution which received the request must release the person liable to extradition, if he was arrested.

Article 484. Arrest for extradition
Measures are taken to arrest the person liable to extradition, prior to the extradition decision when the copy of the decision to arrest is received with the extradition request.
In accordance with the provisions of this article in part 1, the arrested person is entitled to appear before court for the establishment or elimination of the prevention measure.

Article 485. Arrest or detention prior to the receipt of request for extradition

The person whose extradition is required, by petition of the applying country, can be arrested also prior to the receipt of the extradition request. The petition must contain references to the decision to arrest or to the verdict which came into legal force, indicating that the extradition request will be sent additionally. The petition on arrest prior to extradition request can be sent by mail, by telegram or by fax.
The person can also be arrested without the petition mentioned in the first part of this article, if there are legally
envisaged grounds to suspect that he committed a crime in the territory of another country and is liable to extradition.
The appropriate institution of the foreign country which presented the request is immediately informed about t
he arrest or detention executed prior to receipt of the extradition request.
In accordance with parts 1 and 2 of this article, the arrested person is entitled to appear before court for the establishment or eimination of the prevention measure.

Article 486. Release from arrest or detention

The person arrested, based on grounds envisaged in article 485, part 1, if no extradition request will bereceived within 1 month after his arrest.
The person arrested, based on article 485, part  2, must be released, if no extradition request will be received within the period established in the legislation  of the given state for arrest.

Article 487. Postponement of extradition

If the person, whose extradition is required, was subjected to criminal liability or was convicted for another crime in the given state, his extradition can be postponed until the end of criminal prosecution, the execution of the verdict or release from punishment.

Article 488. Temporary extradition

If the postponement of extradition envisaged in article 487 ofthis Code, can lead to expiration of the prescription
period for criminal prosecution or damage the investigation, the person whose extradition is required can be extradited temporarily.

The temporarily extradited person must be returned after the end of the execution of the criminal case proceedings for which he was extradited, but not later than within three months after the extradition. In justified cases the extension of the term must be done by agreement of the parties.

Article 489. Conflict of extradition requests

If the extradition requests are received from several counties, the institution which received the request decides at its discretion which request must be satisfied first.

Article 490. Limits to criminal liability of the extradited person

Without the consent of the institution which received the request, it is not allowed to subject the extradited pers
on to criminal liability and punishment for the crime he committed before extradition, for the crime which he was not extradited for.
Without the consent of the institution which received the request, the person can not also be extradited to the third state.
The consent of the institution which received the request is not required, if the extradited person within 1 month after the criminal proceedings, and in the case of conviction, after having served the sentence and release, within 1 month, will not leave the territory of the state which received the request, or if he will return there of his own accord. The time when the extradited person could not leave the country which sent the request against his will is not included into this term.

Article 491. Transfer of the extradited person
The institution which received the request informs the institution which sent the request about the time and place of extradition. If the institution which requested the extradition does not received the person liable to
extradition within 15 days after the established deadline, the person is released from arrest.

Article 492. Repeated extradition
If the extradited person evades criminal prosecution or is fugitive from punishment, and returns to the country which received the request, at a new request he must be extradited without submission of materials mention in this chapter.

Article 493. Transit extradition
By petition of the institution which submitted the request, the institution which received the request resolves the issue of transit extradition of persons extradited to a third country through its own territory.
The petition concerning such a transit is discussed in the same procedure as the extradition request.
The institution which received the request resol.

If you have any questions related to the application of  extradited, please contact us:  info@jurist.am