Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories)
CHAPTER 12:04
EXTRADITION (COMMONWEALTH AND FOREIGN TERRITORIES) ACT
SECTION
1. Short title and application.
(1) This Act may be cited as the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) Act.
(2) This Act applies to extraditable offences committed before as well as after the commencement of this Act .
PART I
INTERPRETATION
2. Interpretation.
In this Act—
“application for habeas corpus” means an application for a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum;
“authority to proceed” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(1);
“conviction” does not include or refer to a conviction which under the law of some other territory is a conviction for contumacy, but the term “person accused” includes a person convicted of contumacy;
“dealt with” means tried or returned or surrendered to any territory or detained with a view to trial or with a view to such return or surrender;
“declared Commonwealth territory” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3(1);
“declared foreign territory” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4(1);
“extraditable offence” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6;
“foreign territory” means any State outside Trinidad and Tobago other than a Commonwealth territory, and includes every constituent part, colony or dependency of such State;
“fugitive offender” or “offender” means any person being or suspected of being in Trinidad and Tobago, who is accused or who is alleged to be unlawfully at large after conviction of an extraditable offence committed within the jurisdiction of, or part of, a declared Commonwealth territory or a declared foreign territory, as the case may be;
“Governor”, in relation to any territory, means the person or
persons administering the government of that territory;
“imprisonment” includes detention of any description;
“provisional warrant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10(1);
“race” includes tribe;
“treaty” means any convention, treaty, agreement or arrangement for the time being in force between Trinidad and Tobago and any foreign territory for the return or surrender of offenders;
“warrant”, in the case of any foreign territory, includes any judicial document authorising the arrest of a person accused or convicted of crime.
PART II
TERRITORIES TO WHICH ACT APPLIES
COMMONWEALTH TERRITORIES
3. Declared Commonwealth territories.
(1) The Attorney General may, by Order subject to negative resolution of Parliament, declare a Commonwealth territory other than Trinidad and Tobago to be a Commonwealth territory (hereafter referred to as a declared Commonwealth territory) in relation to which this Act applies, and where any such Order so declares, this Act applies in relation to that territory; and any such Order may provide that this Act applies in relation to that territory subject to such exceptions, adaptations, modifications or other provisions as may be specified in the Order and, where any such Order so provides, this Act applies in relation to that territory subject to such exceptions, adaptations, modifications or other provisions.
(2) For the purposes of any Order made under subsection (1), any territory for the external relations of which a Commonwealth country is responsible may be treated as part of that country or, if the Government of that country so requests, as a separate country.
FOREIGN TERRITORIES
4. Declared foreign territories.
(1) Where a treaty has been concluded, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, between Trinidad and Tobago and any foreign territory in relation to the return of fugitive offenders, the Attorney General may, by Order subject to negative resolution of Parliament, declare that territory to be a foreign territory (hereafter referred to as a declared foreign territory) in relation to which this Act applies, and where any such Order so declares, this Act applies in relation to that territory; and any such Order may provide that this Act applies in relation to that territory subject to such exceptions, adaptations, modifications or other provisions as may be specified in the Order and, where any such Order so provides, this Act applies in relation to that territory subject to such exceptions, adaptations, modifications or other provisions.
(2) An Order shall not be made under subsection (1) unless the treaty—
(a) is in conformity with the provisions of this Act, and in particular with the restrictions on the return of fugitive offenders contained in this Act; and
(b) provides for the determination of the treaty by either party to it after the expiration of a notice not exceeding one year.
(3) Any Order made under subsection (1) shall recite or embody the terms of the treaty and shall not remain in force for any longer period than the treaty; and the Order shall be conclusive evidence that the treaty complies with the requisitions of this Act and that this Act applies in relation to the foreign territory mentioned in the Order, and the validity of the Order shall not be questioned in any legal proceedings whatever .
PART III
EXTRADITION FROM TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
5. Persons liable to be returned.
(1) A person found in Trinidad and Tobago—
(a) who is accused of an extraditable offence; or
(b) who is alleged to be unlawfully at large after conviction of an extraditable offence,
in a declared Commonwealth territory, or in a declared foreign territory, may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, be arrested and returned to the declared Commonwealth territory or the declared foreign territory, as the case may be.
(2) For greater certainty, a person may be returned under this Act whether or not the conduct on which the declared Commonwealth or foreign territory bases its request occurred in territory over which it has jurisdiction.
6. Extraditable offences.
(1) For the purpose of this Act, an offence in respect of which a person is accused or has been convicted in a declared Commonwealth territory, or a declared foreign territory, is an extraditable offence if—
(a) it is an offence against the law of that territory which is punishable under the law with death or imprisonment for a term of not less than twelve months;
(b) the conduct of the person would constitute an offence against the law of Trinidad and Tobago if it took place in Trinidad and Tobago, or in the case of an extra-territorial offence, if it took place in corresponding circumstances outside Trinidad and Tobago, and would be punishable under the law of Trinidad and Tobago with death or imprisonment for a term of not less than twelve months; and
(c) in the case of a declared foreign territory, extradition for that offence is provided for by a treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and that territory.
(2) For the purpose of this section, in determining whether an offence against the law of a declared Commonwealth territory, or a declared foreign territory, is an offence against the law of Trinidad and Tobago, any special intent, state of mind or special circumstances of aggravation which may be necessary to constitute that offence under the law of Trinidad and Tobago shall be disregarded.
(3) For greater certainty, it is not relevant whether the conduct referred to in subsection (1) is named, defined or characterised by the declared Commonwealth territory, or the declared foreign territory, in the same way as it is in Trinidad and Tobago.
(4) An offence constituted by conduct, whether in Trinidad and Tobago or not, that is of a kind over which Contracting States to an international Convention to which Trinidad and Tobago is a party are required by that Convention to establish jurisdiction, and which jurisdiction Trinidad and Tobago has so established, is an extraditable offence for the purpose of this Act.
7. Further proceedings.
For greater certainty, the discharge of a person under this Act does not preclude further proceedings, whether or not they are based on the same conduct, with a view to the return of the person under this Act unless the High Court is of the opinion that those further proceedings would be an abuse of process.
8. General restrictions on return.
(1) A person shall not be returned under this Act, other than under section 11, to a declared Commonwealth territory or a declared foreign territory, or committed to or kept in custody for the purposes of the return, if it appears to the Attorney General, to the Magistrate on proceedings under section 12, to the High Court on an application for habeas corpus or under section 14 for review of an order, or to the Court of Appeal on the hearing of an appeal under section 15—
(a) that the offence in respect of which that person is accused or was convicted is an offence of a political character;
(b) that the request for his return (though purporting to be made on account of an extraditable offence) is in fact made for the purpose of prosecuting or, punishing him on account of his race, religion, gender, sexual preference, nationality or political opinions; or
(c) that he might, if returned, be prejudiced at his trial or punished, detained or restricted in his personal liberty by reason of his race, religion, gender, sexual preference, nationality or political opinions.
(2) A person accused of an offence shall not be returned under this Act, other than under section 11, to a declared Commonwealth or foreign territory, or committed to or kept in custody for the purposes of the return, if it appears as aforesaid that if charged with that offence in Trinidad and Tobago he would be entitled to be discharged under any rule of law relating to previous acquittal or conviction.
(3) A person shall not be returned under this Act to a declared Commonwealth or foreign territory, or committed to or kept in custody for the purposes of the return, unless provision is made by the law of that territory, or by an arrangement made with that territory, that he will not, until he has left or has been free to leave that territory, be dealt with in that territory for or in respect of any offence committed before his return under this Act other than—
(a) the offence in respect of which he is returned;
(b) any lesser offence proved by the facts proved before the Magistrate on proceedings under section 12; or
(c) any other offence being an extraditable offence in respect of which the Attorney General may consent to his being so dealt with.
(4) The Attorney General shall not give his consent under subsection (3)(c) if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the offence to which the request for consent relates could have been charged prior to return if due diligence had been exercised.
(5) Any such arrangement as is mentioned in subsection (3) may be an arrangement made for the particular case or an arrangement of a more general nature; and for the purposes of that subsection a certificate issued by or under the authority of the Attorney General confirming the existence of an arrangement with any territory and stating its terms is conclusive evidence of the matters contained in the certificate.
(6) A person’s return, under this Act, to a declared Commonwealth or foreign territory shall not be debarred by reason only of the fact that the person will be sent from that territory to another territory for or in respect of any offence committed before his return under this Act.
(7) The reference in this section to an offence of a political character does not include—
(a) an offence against the life or person of a Head of State, Head of Government, or Minister of Government, or of his spouse, or of any dependant relative of his;
(b) an act declared, under any multilateral international convention having the force of law in Trinidad and Tobago, to constitute an offence for which a person may be returned under this Act to a declared Commonwealth or foreign territory, notwithstanding the political character or motivation of such act.
(8) For the purposes of this Act, an offence against a declared Commonwealth or foreign territory may be regarded as being an offence of a political character notwithstanding that there are not competing political parties in that territory.
8A. Restriction on return: hostage-taking.
(1) A person accused of an offence under the Taking of Hostages Act shall not be returned under this Act to a declared Commonwealth territory or a declared foreign territory, which is party to the Convention, or committed to or kept in custody for the purposes of the return, if it appears to the Attorney General, to the Magistrate on proceedings under section 12, or to the High Court on an application for habeas corpus or under section 14 for review of an order, or to the Court of Appeal on the hearing of an appeal under section 15—
(a) that that person might, if returned, be prejudiced at his trial by reason of the impossibility of effecting communications between him and the appropriate authorities of the State entitled to exercise rights of protection in relation to him; and
(b) that the facts constituting the offence of which he has been acquitted or convicted also constitute an offence under section 3 of the Taking of Hostages Act.
(2) Where the Minister certifies that a territory is a party to the Convention the certificate shall, in any proceedings under this Act, be conclusive evidence of that fact.
(3) In this section “the Convention” means the Convention referred to in section 2 of the Taking of Hostages Act.
9.Request for return.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act relating to provisional warrants, a person shall not be dealt with thereunder except in pursuance of an order of the Attorney General (hereafter referred to as an authority to proceed), issued in pursuance of a request made to the Attorney General by or on behalf of the Government of the declared Commonwealth territory, or the declared foreign territory, in which the person to be returned is accused or was convicted.
(2) There shall be furnished with any request made for the purposes of this section on behalf of any territory a record of the case which shall include—
(a) in the case of a person accused of an extraditable offence, a warrant for his arrest issued in that territory and a document summarising the evidence available to that territory for use in the prosecution of the person;
(b) in the case of a person unlawfully at large after conviction of an extraditable offence, a certificate of the conviction and sentence in that territory, and a statement of the amount, if any, of that sentence which has been served;
together in each case with—
(c) particulars of the person whose return is requested;
(d) particulars of the facts upon which and the law under which he is accused or was convicted;
(e) evidence that provision is made by the law of that territory for the specialty rule provided for by section 8(3), where the specialty rule is not made by an arrangement with that territory; and
(f) evidence sufficient to justify the issue of a warrant for his arrest under section 10.
Surrender
Request for arrest and surrender
Surrender - obligation
EDIT.