Part 2 Surrender of Persons

§ 6 Approval of Surrender

The surrender, except in the case of § 32, shall only be approved when the court has declared it permissible.


§ 7 Subject Matter Jurisdiction

(1) The Higher Regional Court shall pass judgment in the absence of other agreement. Judgments of the Higher Regional Court are non-appealable.
(2) The public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court shall prepare the decision regarding the surrender and shall implement approved surrenders.


§ 8 Venue

(1) Venue lies with the Higher Regional Court and the public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court in whose district the suspect is apprehended for the purpose of surrender or, when there has been no apprehension, where the first investigation took place.
(2) If multiple suspects, because of participation in the same criminal act or in connection therewith, are captured or investigated in the districts of different Higher Regional Courts for the purpose of surrender, venue is determined by which Higher Regional Court was first involved is or, when none was yet involved, by which public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court was first involved.
(3) When the whereabouts of the suspect is unknown, venue is determined by the seat of the federal government.


§ 9 Investigation Measures
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 of the Rome Statute)

(1) After receipt of a request by the Court for arrest and surrender based upon Article 89 para. 1 of the Rome Statute or provisional arrest based upon Article 92 para. 1 of the Rome Statute, measures necessary for determination of the whereabouts of the suspect as well as for arrest of the suspect shall be taken. The provisions in para. 9a of Part One of the Criminal Procedure Code (Strafprozessordnung) apply mutatis mutandis.
(2) No special request by the Court is required for ordering individual investigation measures. The public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court is responsible [for] issuing an arrest notice.

§ 10
Detention of Persons to be Surrendered
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 of the Rome Statute)

Upon receipt of the request for arrest and surrender along with the documents required for surrender for criminal prosecution pursuant to Article 91 para. 2 of the Rome Statute or for surrender for execution of sentence pursuant to Article 91 para. 3 of the Rome Statute, detention of the suspect prior to surrender shall be ordered.

Part 2 Surrender of Persons

§ 11 Provisional Detention of Persons to be Surrendered
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 and 10 Article 92 of the Rome Statute)

(1) When there is a request of the Court for provisional arrest accompanied by the documents set forth in Article 92 para. 2 of the Rome Statute, provisional detention for surrender shall be ordered. The order of detention for surrender shall be rescinded when the suspect has been detained for a total of 60 days for the purpose of the surrender since the day of capture or provisional arrest without a request by the Court for arrest and surrender, nor presentation of the documents required by the Statute to the office responsible pursuant to § 68 para. 1, nor a declaration by the suspect within this deadline of his agreement with streamlined surrender (§ 33).

Article 58
Issuance by the Pre-Trial Chamber of a warrant of arrest or a summons to appear
5. On the basis of the warrant of arrest, the Court may request the provisional arrest or the
arrest and surrender of the person under Part 9.

Article 59
Arrest proceedings in the custodial State
1. A State Party which has received a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender
shall immediately take steps to arrest the person in question in accordance with its laws and the
provisions of Part 9.
2. A person arrested shall be brought promptly before the competent judicial authority in the
custodial State which shall determine, in accordance with the law of that State, that:
(a) The warrant applies to that person;
(b) The person has been arrested in accordance with the proper process; and
(c) The person’s rights have been respected.
3. The person arrested shall have the right to apply to the competent authority in the custodial
State for interim release pending surrender.
4. In reaching a decision on any such application, the competent authority in the custodial
State shall consider whether, given the gravity of the alleged crimes, there are urgent and
exceptional circumstances to justify interim release and whether necessary safeguards exist to
ensure that the custodial State can fulfil its duty to surrender the person to the Court. It shall not be
open to the competent authority of the custodial State to consider whether the warrant of arrest
was properly issued in accordance with article 58, paragraph 1 (a) and (b).
5. The Pre-Trial Chamber shall be notified of any request for interim release and shall make
recommendations to the competent authority in the custodial State. The competent authority in
the custodial State shall give full consideration to such recommendations, including any
recommendations on measures to prevent the escape of the person, before rendering its decision.
6. If the person is granted interim release, the Pre-Trial Chamber may request periodic
reports on the status of the interim release.
7. Once ordered to be surrendered by the custodial State, the person shall be delivered to the
Court as soon as possible.


Article 92
Provisional arrest
1. In urgent cases, the Court may request the provisional arrest of the person sought, pending presentation of the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91.
2. The request for provisional arrest shall be made by any medium capable of delivering a written record and shall contain:
(a) Information describing the person sought, sufficient to identify the person, and information as to that person's probable location;
(b) A concise statement of the crimes for which the person's arrest is sought and of the facts which are alleged to constitute those crimes, including, where possible, the date and location of the crime;
(c) A statement of the existence of a warrant of arrest or a judgement of conviction against the person sought; and
(d) A statement that a request for surrender of the person sought will follow.
3. A person who is provisionally arrested may be released from custody if the requested State has not received the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91 within the time limits specified in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. However, the person may consent to surrender before the expiration of this period if permitted by the law of the requested State. In such a case, the requested State shall proceed to surrender the person to the Court as soon as possible.
4. The fact that the person sought has been released from custody pursuant to paragraph 3 shall not prejudice the subsequent arrest and surrender of that person if the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request are delivered at a later date.

This provision follows the ICC Statute.