Portugal

Law No. 144/99, of 31 August, on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters

Part I
General

CHAPTER I
Subject-matter, scope and general principles of international judicial co-operation in criminal matters


Article 6
Mandatory grounds for refusal

1. Requests for co-operation shall be refused:

a) where the proceedings do not comply with the requirements laid down in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950, or other relevant international instruments ratified by Portugal;
b) where there are well-founded reasons for believing that co-operation is sought for the purpose of persecuting or punishing a person on account of that person's race, religion, sex, nationality, language, political or ideological beliefs, or his belonging to a given social group;
c) where the risk exists that the procedural situation of the person might be impaired on account of any of the factors indicated in the preceding sub-paragraph;
d) where the co-operation sought might lead to a trial by a court of exceptional jurisdiction or where it concerns the enforcement of a sentence passed by such a court;
e) where any of the facts in question is punishable with the death sentence or with a sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity;
f) where any of the offences in question carries a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure.

2. The provisions in sub-paragraphs e) and f) of the preceding paragraph shall not preclude co-operation:

should the requesting State, by way of an irreversible decision that binds its courts or any other authority with powers to execute the sentence, have either commuted the death sentence or the sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity, or withdrawn the life-long nature of the sentence or measure;

where the co-operation sought is in the form of extradition for offences that, under the law of the requesting State, carry a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure involving deprivation of or restrictions to liberty, should the requesting State offer assurances that such a sentence or measure shall not be imposed or shall not be executed;

should the requesting State accept the conversion of the sentence or the detention order, by a Portuguese court and under the Portuguese law applicable to the offence or offences for which the person was sentenced; or

where co-operation is sought on the basis of the provisions of Article 1.1.f), on grounds that it will presumably be relevant for the purpose of preventing such sentences or orders to be rendered.

3. In assessing the sufficiency of the assurances mentioned in sub-paragraph b) of paragraph 2 above, account shall be taken, in the light of the law and practice of the requesting State, inter alia, of the possibility that the sentence is not executed, of a reconsideration of the situation of the person sought and his conditional release, as well as of the possibilities that pardon, amnesty, commutation of the sentence or similar measure be granted, as provided in the law of the requesting State.

4. A request for co-operation shall also be refused where reciprocity is not ensured, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 4. 3.

5. Where co-operation is refused on the grounds offered by the provisions of sub-paragraphs d), e) or f) of paragraph 1 above, the method of co-operation provided for in Article 32.5 shall apply.

Keywords

Fair trial standards



EDIT.