The Considerable Number Of Suspected Perps That Countries Extradite Daily To Other Countries
[Umarked Federal flying paddy-wagon, seen here leaving Seattle, transports 300,000 prisoners annually ]
Extradition is not without its controversies and not all extradition requests see a suspect sitting on a plane handcuffed to a federal marshal.
However, most do, and the US at federal and state level is at any one time processing hundreds of requests and transporting suspected perps hither and thither - the majority, of course, internally between U.S. states, but a large minority are incoming and outgoing.
Complete refusals of extradition seem very rare, as that can cause rebound and ripple effects down the ages.
The US is sort of refusing to send some pilots and CIA operatives back to Italy for trial, but those cases are both in the realm of the quasi military. In the case of the Italian soldiers being held in India for the shooting from a oil tanker of Cochin fishermen they suspected were pirates, even Italy says rules for military must be different.
The US and Italy co-operate on law enforcement more than most countries and the FBI and its Italian equivalent have officers from the other service permanently embedded. We posted on this case of Italy sending an American renegade doctor back to Indiana to face charges.
In general extraditions in both directions between the U.S. and Italy seem to go smoothly and if the State Department ever gets involved (it states that this is Justice Department business) we don’t see any evidence of it in recent reports.
These cases - some of them involving countries sending their own nationals to other countries to face the music - are all live cases on the first 10 of 30 pages when “extradition” is searched on Google News.
- The United States extradites US national David Kramer to Melbourne in Australia. He “has been charged with 10 counts of indecent assault allegedly committed in St Kilda East when he was a teacher at a Jewish orthodox school.”
- Canada rules to send Canadian national Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer to the US. “The U.S. indictment… alleges Sidhu… worked with convicted British Columbia smugglers Rob Shannon and Devron Quast to operate a cocaine transportation organization based in British Columbia.”
- The UK sends back Joshua Edwards, a murder suspect, to the US after he fought extradition for five years. He is accused in a 2006 shooting death in Maryland.
- The UK sends back Prine “Prince” Jones to Newark New Jersey. “The 46-year-old Birmingham, England, resident is charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to import and export cocaine.”
- Mexico sends back two brothers to New York City “to join a third brother to face sex trafficking charges in New York as part of a complex collaborative effort to combat human trafficking”.
- The UK sends back TV star Robert Hughes to Sydney, Australia. ““He is wanted in connection with allegations of gross indecency, indecent assault and sexual assault towards children in NSW, Australia, between August 1984 and August 1990.”
- Guatamala sends Horst Walther Overdick to New York. “Overdick, known as “The Tiger,” was detained in April during an operation to arrest [very dangerous] Zetas [cartel] operatives in the Central American country.”
- Finland sends Igor Vassiliev to the US. “Igor Vassiliev, 38, a Russian citizen, was arrested in July in Finland, based on an Interpol Red Notice. He is only the third person ever extradited from Finland to the U.S….[in 2005] a federal grand jury handed up indictments charging him with health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud and mail fraud.”
- The United Arab Emirates sends Kamchybek Kolbaye back to Kyrgyzstan after a two-year legal process. “Kolbayev faces charges of kidnapping, robbery, organization of a criminal group, illegal drug trafficking, and illegal weapons possession,”
- Israel will send Israeli national Aleksandar Cvetkovic to Bosnia. He was arrested in 2011 “on an international warrant after witnesses testified that he had assisted in the shooting of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.”
- Ireland extradites Philip Baron to Liverpool in England. “Alleged crime gang boss Philip Baron faces four charges relating to money laundering and conspiracy to import a huge shipment of cocaine and cannabis to the UK from South Africa and Costa Rica between 2005 and 2009.”
- The US may extradite David Headley to India. “CNN-IBN reported US Under Secretary Wendy Sherman as saying, “The US acknowledges Hafiz Saeed is mastermind of 26/11 [Mumbai bomb] attacks. President Barack Obama is determined the US will bring Hafiz Saeed to justice.”
- The UK will extradite British national Lee Aldhouse to Thailand. “Mr Aldhouse successfully fled Thailand after allegedly stabbing American Deshawn Longfellow to death in August 2010. He was later arrested at Heathrow Airport on an unrelated charge when he tried to re-enter the UK.”
- Mauritius has sent Captain Kung back to Taiwan. “Kung was suspected of shooting and killing 12 Chinese sailors [in 1999] on his… fishing vessel during a failed mutiny attempt on Feb. 1999. The vessel at the time was sailing on waters northwest of Mauritius…. Kung was later arrested by Mauritius authorities and sentenced to 20 years in prison.”
- Italy will deport Muiz Trabulsi to Tunisia under an agreements signed by Italy Justice Minister Paola Severino. Muiz Trabulsi is “the nephew of Layla Al-Trablisi, Tunisia’s ex-first lady, to stand trial in Tunisia…. [a part of Tunisia’s eforts] efforts to bring back money stolen by members of the former regime”.
- Bulgaria extradited Stefan Klenovski to Italy, who “had a Europol Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued against him by Italian authorities on suspicions of participating in the crime ring practicing ATM fraud [and], was arrested on January 27 in a shopping mall in downtown Sofia.”
Two more cases are now prominently in the news: Wikileaks founder Julian Assad, holed up in the Ecuador Embassy in London, who the Brits want to extradite to Sweden, and John McAfee, the formoer software magnate now back in the US, who Belize may charge with murdering his neighbor.
Almost invariably while awaiting a final decision those subject to an extradition request have to sit out their appeals in prison. If Amanda Knox is reconvicted in a new appeal trial ordered by the Supreme Court, she could face years sitting in an uncomfortable American prison if her extradition is disputed.
Or, of course, she could willingly move straight to an Italian prison, which as she knows offer in-cell TV, private bathrooms, good career skill-building, and concerts.
[Below: Paola Severino, Italy’s relentless no—nonsense justice minister]
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/14/12 at 03:45 PM in The judical timeline, Defendants in court, Amanda Knox, The officially involved, Appeals 2009-2015, The legal followups, US etc related, Hoaxers from 2007, Knox-Marriott PR
Comments
Some countries dont like to extradite their own citizens to other countries to face trial - even to the extent of putting them on trial at home.
The United States is not among them. It sends its own citizens off quite freely to stand trial elsewhere if the justice system and the case against them seem fair.
This article is behind a paywall but it describes the prevailing situation.
So far the State Department and US Embassy in Rome found all procedings against Knox to be fair and did not lift a finger to help her after she was found guilty at first trial and partly guilty at first appeal.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/14/12 at 11:04 PM | #
Here’s an article saying that the UK will send along the vast majority of those requested for extradition by the United States, regardless of whether they are UK citizens.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c9825d2-1cfe-11e2-abeb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2F3wTpaax
The article explains the three reasons for this happening - even though the bar for arrests is somewhat higher in the UK (“reasonable suspicion” rather than “probable cause”.)
The US doesnt seem too concerned that the UK has decided not to send along the autistic hacker Gary McKinnon who was looking through Pentagon files for proof that extra-terrestrials had landed.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/14/12 at 11:13 PM | #
Here is a case of Russia wanting one of its citizens sent back for trial but the US doesnt consider the case to hand him over strong enough.
http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20121212/265748700.html
Viktor Bout is already serving 25 years at the Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois “conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, including military officers and employees, conspiring to supply man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, and of selling millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC.”
The US in turn want to get their hands on a 24-year-old Russian air stewardess, Marina Talashkova, now being held in Canada, for an internet bank-fraud scam she is alleged to have been part of in Vegas.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/world/archives/2012/11/20121127-191539.html
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/14/12 at 11:27 PM | #
Were Frank Sforza of Perugia Shock and Raffele Sollecito recently in the United States in part to check out whether they might be safe here from the long arm of the Italian law?
Well, this isn’t too difficult to research in a few hours on the internet (see above) and it seems their chances are down around zero. Best for them to to duke it out in Italy, where they are each in a ton of trouble.
Contrary to the addled claims of the anti-Italy fanatics Doug Preston and Bruce Fischer, all of the legal problems facing Frank Sforza seem to relate to the abuse and beating-up of women, his own mother and sister included.
Mr Mignini was NOT persecuting him. He is not paranoid (well, not only paranoid), police are charging him for real reasons. Kermit got it right about Preston and Sforza (and the naive patsy Joel Simon) in this great series.
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C493/
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/15/12 at 12:09 AM | #
If the final appeal succeeds , who will be responsible for arresting Knox in the US then ?
Posted by aethelred23 on 12/15/12 at 02:35 AM | #
Hi aethelred23.
It would be the Federal marshalls. They are the enforcement arm of the federal courts. They operate that aircraft at top and several others. Wikipedia says this about them.
*********
The U.S. Marshals are responsible for the protection of court officers and buildings and the effective operation of the judiciary. The service also assists with court security and prisoner transport, serves arrest warrants, and seeks fugitives.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/15/12 at 03:53 AM | #
Hi Pete,
You say: “If Amanda Knox is reconvicted in a new appeal trial ordered by the Supreme Court, she could face years sitting in an uncomfortable American prison if her extradition is disputed.”
Does that mean that there will not be a need to extradite her until the conclusion of a NEW appeal trial then? I thought that if the SC ruled there should be a re-run of the appeal then she is back to being ‘guilty’???
My other query is this: In the event of a second appeal trial would there then also be a second SC phase?
Posted by thundering on 12/15/12 at 02:52 PM | #
@ Thundering Of course not, this is definitively going to be the final stage of appeal.
Posted by aethelred23 on 12/16/12 at 02:50 AM | #
Hi thundering and aethelred23.
In March the Supreme Court could refuse the prosecution appeal and AK’s appeal against her sentence served for fingering Patrick. Then of course, case over, and nobody would be going anywhere.
However, if the Supreme Court decides in March that there were indeed legal faults at the Hellmann-Zannetti level, the case will be bounced back to Perugia or more likely Florence to get specific elements right.
Lawyers believe there are serious faults in the Hellmann-Zannetti verdict.
They range from illegal scope to mischaracterizing evidence and witnesses the appeal court never heard (and shouldnt have heard, an appeal trial isnt meant to be a repeat of first trial), to idolizing the defendants, to demonizing Guede, to refusing to retest DNA on the knife, and to seriously wrong jurisprudence in condemning Judge Massei’s trial logic.
Amanda Knox may be allowed to go free throughout a repeat appeal process (she would have been allowed to go free in 2008 prior to trial if her psychological testing didnt ring alarm bells) but her lawyers would almost certainly want her in the courtroom to make her trademark emotive interventions.
From being right there in court to being back to prison if guilt is reconfirmed by Cassation (only Cassation can do this now) would be a short step.
The extradition option cuts in if she avoids attendance in the courtroom and any final guilty verdict is confirmed in her absence. If she fights extradition she would quite possibly be locked up here in the US while the process plays out.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/17/12 at 12:02 AM | #
Bad news for Frank Sforza:
@andreavogt: More #amandaknox case fallout: A #Florence judge has set March 4 trial date for Perugian blogger accused of defaming prosecutor.
Posted by The Machine on 12/17/12 at 11:16 PM | #
Thanks Machine and Andrea Vogt. We’ll be posting on this soon.
This suit is for making false accusations of crimes against an official and as Frank Sforza has been ranting under an assumed name (Frank Sfarzo) in English (nobody rants like that in Italian!) about such supposed crimes for four years, the list of complaints might be long.
Kermit set out to uncover the truth behind some of Frank’s paranoid rants in half a dozen posts here (scroll down to his 13 May 2011 post and various earlier posts).
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C490/
Frank also faces a criminal trial in Perugia this month for allegedly abusing his mother and sister. You may have read on PMF that he has also been in trouble in Canada and Hawaii, and some including the Knoxes may finally have severed ties.
Another serial defamer who long abused Mignini and other Italian officials under a false name, until we outed him, was York Furrier store assistant Bruce Fischer. You can read something about him here, and there will be more to come we are sure.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/18/12 at 04:34 AM | #
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