Request for provisional arrest

Federal Republic of Germany

Germany - Cooperation with ICC 2002 EN

Part 2 Surrender of Persons

§ 6 Approval of Surrender

The surrender, except in the case of § 32, shall only be approved when the court has declared it permissible.


§ 7 Subject Matter Jurisdiction

(1) The Higher Regional Court shall pass judgment in the absence of other agreement. Judgments of the Higher Regional Court are non-appealable.
(2) The public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court shall prepare the decision regarding the surrender and shall implement approved surrenders.


§ 8 Venue

(1) Venue lies with the Higher Regional Court and the public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court in whose district the suspect is apprehended for the purpose of surrender or, when there has been no apprehension, where the first investigation took place.
(2) If multiple suspects, because of participation in the same criminal act or in connection therewith, are captured or investigated in the districts of different Higher Regional Courts for the purpose of surrender, venue is determined by which Higher Regional Court was first involved is or, when none was yet involved, by which public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court was first involved.
(3) When the whereabouts of the suspect is unknown, venue is determined by the seat of the federal government.


§ 9 Investigation Measures
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 of the Rome Statute)

(1) After receipt of a request by the Court for arrest and surrender based upon Article 89 para. 1 of the Rome Statute or provisional arrest based upon Article 92 para. 1 of the Rome Statute, measures necessary for determination of the whereabouts of the suspect as well as for arrest of the suspect shall be taken. The provisions in para. 9a of Part One of the Criminal Procedure Code (Strafprozessordnung) apply mutatis mutandis.
(2) No special request by the Court is required for ordering individual investigation measures. The public prosecution office attached to the Higher Regional Court is responsible [for] issuing an arrest notice.

§ 10
Detention of Persons to be Surrendered
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 of the Rome Statute)

Upon receipt of the request for arrest and surrender along with the documents required for surrender for criminal prosecution pursuant to Article 91 para. 2 of the Rome Statute or for surrender for execution of sentence pursuant to Article 91 para. 3 of the Rome Statute, detention of the suspect prior to surrender shall be ordered.

Part 2 Surrender of Persons

§ 11 Provisional Detention of Persons to be Surrendered
(relating to Article 59 para. 1 and 10 Article 92 of the Rome Statute)

(1) When there is a request of the Court for provisional arrest accompanied by the documents set forth in Article 92 para. 2 of the Rome Statute, provisional detention for surrender shall be ordered. The order of detention for surrender shall be rescinded when the suspect has been detained for a total of 60 days for the purpose of the surrender since the day of capture or provisional arrest without a request by the Court for arrest and surrender, nor presentation of the documents required by the Statute to the office responsible pursuant to § 68 para. 1, nor a declaration by the suspect within this deadline of his agreement with streamlined surrender (§ 33).

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.