Provisional arrest for national proceedings

Commonwealth of Dominica

Dominica - Criminal Law and Procedure Act 1993

PART III
PROCEDURE AFTER PRELIMINARY INQUIRY AND BEFORE INDICTMENT

15.
(2) Law officer to elect whether he will indict. Procedure when he decides not to indict.

The proper law officer shall, within a reasonable time after the receipt of the copy, consider the said documents or the copy thereof, and make such further inquiry (if any) as he thinks fit, and decide whether he will, or will not, present an indictment against such person, and if the law officer decides not to present an indictment —

(b) if the accused is in custody, awaiting his trial to answer the charge for which he has been so committed or if any witness at the preliminary inquiry is in custody under the said Act for refusing to enter into or acknowledge a recognizance as provided by the said Act, the law officer shall forthwith, by an order in writing under his hand identifying the warrant under which the accused person or the witness (as the case may be) is in custody in respect of the said charge or of the said refusal (as the case may be), direct the keeper of the prison in which the accused person or the witness is detained that he shall no longer detain the accused person or the witness (as the case may be) in custody under the said warrant.

(3) On the receipt of the order, the warrant specified therein shall cease to have effect, and the said keeper shall discharge the person to whom the order applies unless, and except so far as, the person is legally liable to be kept in custody on other grounds.

(4) When the law officer has filed in the Registrar's office a notice as hereinbefore provided, the Registrar shall forthwith cause every person bound by recognizance in the case to be served with a written notice that no indictment will be presented against the accused, and that the person so bound is discharged from his said recognizance (identifying the recognizance) and that his attendance at the High Court will not be required under his said recognizance.

(5) Every person, so notified shall, from the date of the service of the notice, be released from the recognizance specified in the notice and cease to be entitled to any compensation for trouble or loss of time in respect of any subsequent attendance or continued attendance at any Court, under the said recognizance.

Rome Statute

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.