Extradition

(english.legalinfo.gov.cn)     Updated : 2015-06-04

China currently has extradition treaties with 20 countries: Bulgaria, Rumania, Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Thailand, South Korea, Mongolia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Laos, Philippine, Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Peru, Tunis, and South Africa. Procedures for foreign countries requesting an extradition from China: Foreign countries proceed through diplomatic channels with a written request. When Chinese authorities get the request they follow the Chinese Criminal Procedural Law and try to prevent the person(s) to be extradited from escaping. In certain emergency situations, before a formal extradition request is received, as the foreign party can send a written request through diplomatic or Interpol channels, or by telegram and telegraph, asking for a temporary restraining measure on the person in question. Upon notification of the extradition request, the person to be extradited has the right to consult a Chinese lawyer to oppose the extradition within 15 days.

If the Chinese authorities consent to the request, they will inform the foreign country through diplomatic channels, then confer and reach an agreement on the extradition method. If the Chinese refuse the request, they inform the country making the request of the reason for the refusal through diplomatic channels. If the person named in the extradition request is under sentence or being detained by Chinese authorities for a reason not related to the extradition, the decision of the request can be delayed by the judicial procedure or the term of imprisonment, which will be conveyed to the requesting country through diplomatic channels. If the delay in the extradition might allow the person in question to escape, China can consent to a temporary extradition if it is considered feasible by the requesting country. In the case of a temporary extradition, the requesting country must send the person back to China as soon as it concludes the criminal judicial process, so that China can conclude its judicial process concerning the person. If two foreign countries are involved in an extradition that passes Chinese territory, those countries must submit a request to China in advance, except in the case of a person being extradited passing through Chinese airspace and not landing in Chinese territory.