PART IV
PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO RETURN OF OFFENDERS TO ALL
COUNTRIES
24A. (1) The Commissioner of Police may authorize transit through Malta of a person who is being surrendered to any country provided that the following information is furnished:
(a) the identity and nationality of the person against whom the request has been issued;
(b) the existence of a warrant for the arrest and surrender of that person;
(c) the nature and legal classification of any offence on which the warrant for the arrest and surrender of the requested person is based;
(d) the description of the circumstances of any offence, including the date and place of such offence:
Provided that transit may be refused if the person being surrendered is a national or permanent resident of Malta and the surrender is being made for the purpose of execution of a sentence of imprisonment or another form of detention.
(2) The information in subarticle (1) may be transmitted to the Commissioner of Police by any means capable of producing a written record.
(3) When the transport of the surrendered person is to take place by air, it will only be necessary to provide the Commissioner of Police with the information required in subarticle (1) in the event that an unscheduled landing occurs.
(4) A person being conveyed through Malta in the course of his extradition or removal as a convicted prisoner from one country to another shall be kept in custody during the period of transit.
PART VI
SURRENDER OF OFFENDERS
TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
26Q. (1) This article applies where the Minister receives a request from the ICC for transit of a person being surrendered by another state.
(2) If the Minister accedes to the request -
(a) the request shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as if it were a request for that person's arrest and surrender,
(b) the execution of the warrant accompanying the request shall be deemed to have been authorised under article 26C(2), and
(c) the person to whom the request relates shall, subject to the provisions of this article, be treated on arrival in Malta as if he had been arrested under that warrant.
(3) In relation to a case where this article applies -
(a) it shall be incumbent upon the court before whom the person to whom the request relates is produced in pursuance of the provisions of article 26F(2)(a)(i) to ascertain that the Minister has acceded to the request for transit; and
(b) article 16 to which reference is made in article 26J(2) shall have effect as if the reference to fifteen days were a reference to two working days.
(4) A person in transit under this article shall not be granted bail.
(a) A State Party shall authorize, in accordance with its national procedural law, transportation through its territory of a person being surrendered to the Court by another State, except where transit through that State would impede or delay the surrender.
(b) A request by the Court for transit shall be transmitted in accordance with article 87. The request for transit shall contain:
(i) A description of the person being transported;
(ii) A brief statement of the facts of the case and their legal characterization; and
(iii) The warrant for arrest and surrender;
(c) A person being transported shall be detained in custody during the period of transit;
(d) No authorization is required if the person is transported by air and no landing is scheduled on the territory of the transit State;
(e) If an unscheduled landing occurs on the territory of the transit State, that State may require a request for transit from the Court as provided for in subparagraph (b). The transit State shall detain the person being transported until the request for transit is received and the transit is effected, provided that detention for purposes of this subparagraph may not be extended beyond 96 hours from the unscheduled landing unless the request is received within that time.