The Saeima today forwarded to the Foreign Affairs Committee a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice (MJ) that provides for the possibility of extraditing Latvian citizens for prosecution in the United Kingdom, writes LETA.
The Ministry of Justice indicates that currently, based on concluded international agreements, the extradition of Latvian citizens is possible to European Union (EU) states, as well as to the USA, Iceland, Norway, and Australia. Until 2020, the United Kingdom was a member state of the EU.
The draft law "On the Extradition of Latvian Citizens to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" stipulates that Latvian citizens and non-citizens can be extradited to the United Kingdom for prosecution, judicial proceedings, and the enforcement of penalties, the Ministry of Justice explains.
Latvia has made a reservation to Article 603 of the Agreement on Trade and Cooperation between the EU and the United Kingdom, which states that Latvian citizens are not subject to extradition to the United Kingdom; however, the agreement has not been ratified by the Saeima, and the decision on the extradition of citizens must be made by parliament.
British authorities have repeatedly contacted the responsible agencies in Latvia to facilitate cooperation on the extradition of British subjects, as there are grounds to believe that certain individuals located in Latvia have committed particularly serious crimes, the ministry reports.
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