Thailand has an extradition treaty since 1999. Nowadays Thailand has signed Extradition treaties with 14 countries, including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Norway, China, South Korea, India, Poland, Peru, Australia, Sri Lanka, Belgium and Ukraine. The regulation in Thailand for extraditions is the Extradition Act B.E. 2511 (2008).
According to section 7 of the Extradition Act, any extradition from Thailand must follow certain criteria and guidelines. For example, an offence that can be extradited must be a criminal offence which the law of the “Requesting State” and the rule of Thailand defines as a criminal offence.
On the other hand of the ground for the extradition is a political one or it is a military offence, the requested state can refuse to cooperate and aid.
Regarding the rules of extradition, there are the following criteria:
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of one country requested to the counterpart, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the other country the extradition of an individual.
- On the supporting documents they should attach documentary evidence stating the offences, crimes or ruling on that individual.
- Make a request document. The Attorney General considers a petition to the court requesting that warrants will be issued for the continued arrest of wanted persons.
- When the individual is arrested, according to the arrest warrant, the prosecutor takes the case to court to investigate. The Court of Justice of that country starts the inquisition and decides whether there will be extradition or not. On this regard, based on H&P Bangkok litigation lawyers experience, there are many elements that your lawyer in Thailand can do to oppose the extradition.
As for the extradition consideration In Thailand, the Criminal Court is the court with jurisdiction over extradition, and the Attorney General is the central coordinator.
In case that both countries have no agreement with each other, the other country can still request an extradition based on a reciprocal principle but Thailand can not guarantee that Thailand will cooperate as there is no agreement signed with each other.
In the last decade, H&P lawyers in Thailand have assisted foreign individuals in extradition proceedings and we have opposed different extraditions request to other countries. Based on our professional legal experience, it is key to examine every detail of the case, and be able to identify weak aspects of irregular conducts when the arrest takes places or any document sent by the requesting country in order to oppose to the extradition of a foreigner from Thailand.
If you need a lawyer in Thailand to assist you in an extradition process, please contact our law firm in Bangkok at [email protected]