Julio Cesar Lopez-Pena thought he was above the law. He was part of Colombia’s notorious “Norte Valle” Cartel, a narcotics ring that imported more than $10 billion worth of cocaine into the United States over the last fifteen years. But last month Lopez-Pena was extradited from Colombia to answer trafficking charges in a U.S. Federal Court in New York City. He now faces life in prison if convicted and a $100 million fine.
Lopez-Pena’s case typifies the international nature of much of today’s criminal activity. Advances in transportation and communications have created global criminal enterprises whose illicit activities readily cross national boundaries and whose effects are felt in multiple legal jurisdictions. Globalised crime of this type requires that countries believing in the rule of law must join their law enforcement efforts together in common purpose.
One key weapon in this fight is extradition, a long-established, widely practiced and internationally accepted legal process to bring criminals to justice in the place their crimes had effect.
Extraditions are governed by treaties freely entered into by sovereign nations who believe that criminals should not be able to escape justice by skipping from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Such treaties allow our law enforcement officials to coordinate their actions and collectively to deny safe haven to international criminals, terrorists, drug traffickers and smugglers around the world. Extradition treaties are reciprocal, offering both signatories the right to request extraditions, and they are effective.
The United States has signed extradition treaties with more than one hundred countries, including The Bahamas. Last year 432 fugitives from 52 different countries were extradited to the United States and some 104 fugitives sent abroad in response to extradition requests to the U.S. from 30 countries. All of those individuals now face local justice for their crimes.
Extradition targets have legal protections at every stage of the extradition process: The United States will only seek an extradition in the case of an indicted fugitive. This means that a judge or grand jury in the U.S. has already determined that there exists sufficient evidence of a crime to merit, a trial. Each extradition request must be accompanied by extensive documentation demonstrating the case against the individual being sought. Typically this includes sworn affidavits, forensic evidence and grand jury transcripts. All of this information is carefully reviewed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s office to verify that the request meets the terms of the extradition treaty before the case can proceed. Finally, requested fugitives have full access to the Bahamian court system to contest their transfer to the United States to stand trial.
Once in the United States, an extradited fugitive enjoys the full protections of the U.S. legal system, and, like every person tried in the U.S., has the right to mount a full legal defense and is regarded as innocent until proven guilty.
The average extradition case takes more than two years to complete due to appeals and the rights afforded to the requested individuals. But due process is a vital part of every extradition. Criminals may flout the law but the extradition process that brings them to face justice where their crimes had effect must always respect it. Combating crime in today’s world would be impossible if every criminal were able to take refuge in a jurisdiction willing to look the other way.
Extradition allows countries committed to the rule of law to cooperate, investigate, and prosecute. Criminals should never be beyond the reach of justice, and with an effective extradition system, they never will be.
By: US Ambassador John Rood, as published in The Nassau Guardian
