'Provisional arrest - detention pending surrender' in document 'Poland - Cooperation with the ICC'

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RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION

Chapter 66a. Co-operation with the International Criminal Court

Art. 611j. § 1. At the request of the Court for provisional arrest or arrest and surrender, a court shall order pre-trial detention.

§ 2. The pre-trial detention referred to in § 1 may be reversed or replaced with a more lenient preventive measure in the cases specified in the Statute. The provisions of Arts. 257-259 shall not apply.

§ 3. In the proceedings regarding the reversal or replacement of the preventive measure, a court or a prosecutor shall take into account the standpoint expressed by the Court.

Article 257. § 1. Pre-trial detention shall not be applied if another preventive measure is sufficient.

§ 2. In applying pre-trial detention, the court may reserve that the measure will be amended when an agreed bail is posted with the court within the prescribed time-limit.

Article 258. § 1. Pre-trial detention may occur if :

1) there is good reason to fear that the accused may take flight or go into hiding, particularly if he has no permanent residence in this country or when his identity cannot be established or
2) there is good reason to fear that the accused would induce other persons to give false testimony or attempt to obstruct the criminal proceedings in some other manner.

§ 2. If the accused has been charged with a crime or with a misdemeanour carrying the statutory maximum penalty of deprivation of liberty of a minimum of 8 years, or if the court of the first instance sentenced him to a penalty of deprivation of liberty of no less than 3 years, the need to apply the preventive detention in order to secure the proper conduct of proceedings may be justified by the severe penalty threatening the accused.

§ 3. Pre-trial detention may also occur, in exceptional cases when there is good reason to fear that the accused charged with a crime or an intentional misdemeanour would commit an offence against life, health or public safety, particularly if he threatened to commit such an offence.

§ 4. Provisions of § 1 through 3 shall apply accordingly to the remaining preventive measures.

Article 259. If there are no special reasons to the contrary, pre-trial detention should be waived, particularly if depriving the accused of his liberty :

(1) might seriously jeopardise the life or health of the accused, or
(2) would entail an excessive burden on the accused or his next of kin.

§ 2. Pre-trial detention shall not be applied, when the facts of the case permit presumption that the court will sentence the accused to the penalty of deprivation of liberty with conditional suspension of its execution, or to a milder penalty, or that the term of preventive detention would exceed the expected sentence of deprivation of liberty without a conditional suspension.

§ 3. Pre-trial detention cannot be imposed, if the offence carries the penalty of deprivation of liberty not exceeding one year.

§ 4. The restrictions referred to in § 2 and 3 shall not apply if the accused has remained in hiding, persistently failed to appear when summoned or obstructs the proceedings by other unlawful action or when his identity cannot not be established.

RELEVANT ROME STATUTE PROVISIONS

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.