Refusal of ICC request

Moldova, Republic of

Moldova - Criminal Procedure Code 2003 (2016) EN

Article 534. Rejecting International Legal Assistance

(1) International legal assistance may be rejected if:
1) the request refers to crimes considered in the Republic of Moldova political crimes or crimes related to such crimes. The rejection shall not be admitted if a person is suspected, accused or was convicted for the commission of certain acts provided in arts. 5–8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
2) the request refers to an act exclusively constituting a violation of military discipline;
3) the criminal investigative body or the court to which the request for legal assistance was addressed considers that its execution is of a nature to affect the sovereignty, security or public order of the state;
4) there are grounds for believing that the suspect is being criminally pursued or punished due to his/her race, religion, citizenship, association with a certain group or certain political beliefs, or if his/her situation will be exacerbated for the aforementioned reasons;
5) it is proven that the person will not have access to a fair trial in the requesting state;
6) the respective act is punished by death as per the legislation of the requesting state and the requesting state provides no guarantee in view of not applying or not executing capital punishment;
7) in line with the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova the act or acts invoked in the request do not constitute a crime;
8) in line with national legislation the person may not be subject to criminal liability.

Article 544. Executing a Request for the Extradition of Persons who are on the Territory of the Republic of Moldova
(6) If the Prosecutor General or, as the case may be, the Minister of Justice considers that the person solicited by the foreign state or international court may not be extradited, he/she shall refuse extradition in a reasoned decision, and if considering that the person may be extradited he/she shall make a motion to the court within the territorial jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice and shall attached thereto the request and the documents of the requesting state.

Rome Statute

Article 90 Competing requests

1. A State Party which receives a request from the Court for the surrender of a person under article 89 shall, if it also receives a request from any other State for the extradition of the same person for the same conduct which forms the basis of the crime for which the Court seeks the person's surrender, notify the Court and the requesting State of that fact.

2. Where the requesting State is a State Party, the requested State shall give priority to the request from the Court if:

(a) The Court has, pursuant to article 18 or 19, made a determination that the case in respect of which surrender is sought is admissible and that determination takes into account the investigation or prosecution conducted by the requesting State in respect of its request for extradition; or

(b) The Court makes the determination described in subparagraph (a) pursuant to the requested State's notification under paragraph 1.

3. Where a determination under paragraph 2 (a) has not been made, the requested State may, at its discretion, pending the determination of the Court under paragraph 2 (b), proceed to deal with the request for extradition from the requesting State but shall not extradite the person until the Court has determined that the case is inadmissible. The Court's determination shall be made on an expedited basis.

4. If the requesting State is a State not Party to this Statute the requested State, if it is not under an international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, shall give priority to the request for surrender from the Court, if the Court has determined that the case is admissible.

5. Where a case under paragraph 4 has not been determined to be admissible by the Court, the requested State may, at its discretion, proceed to deal with the request for extradition from the requesting State.

6. In cases where paragraph 4 applies except that the requested State is under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State not Party to this Statute, the requested State shall determine whether to surrender the person to the Court or extradite the person to the requesting State. In making its decision, the requested State shall consider all the relevant factors, including but not limited to:

(a) The respective dates of the requests;

(b) The interests of the requesting State including, where relevant, whether the crime was committed in its territory and the nationality of the victims and of the person sought; and

(c) The possibility of subsequent surrender between the Court and the requesting State.

7. Where a State Party which receives a request from the Court for the surrender of a person also receives a request from any State for the extradition of the same person for conduct other than that which constitutes the crime for which the Court seeks the person's surrender:

(a) The requested State shall, if it is not under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, give priority to the request from the Court;

(b) The requested State shall, if it is under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, determine whether to surrender the person to the Court or to extradite the person to the requesting State. In making its decision, the requested State shall consider all the relevant factors, including but not limited to those set out in paragraph 6, but shall give special consideration to the relative nature and gravity of the conduct in question.

Where pursuant to a notification under this article, the Court has determined a case to be inadmissible, and subsequently extradition to the requesting State is refused, the requested State shall notify the Court of this decision.

Article 93 Other forms of cooperation

4. In accordance with article 72, a State Party may deny a request for assistance, in whole or in part, only if the request concerns the production of any documents or disclosure of evidence which relates to its national security.