§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the proposed EU arrest warrant will apply to extradition requests by military tribunals. [54210]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthOur extradition law currently provides that we cannot extradite for offences which are purely military offences and have no equivalent under general criminal law. We intend to replicate that provision in the new law. However, we have always been prepared to extradite in cases where an individual has committed a military offence which has a counterpart under criminal law. It is therefore legally possible under present arrangements, although exceptionally rare, for an extradition partner to seek the return of an individual to appear before a military court.
Under the terms of Article 6 of the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant, it is the responsibility of each member state to designate its issuing judicial authorities. In principle, it would therefore be possible for a European Arrest Warrant to be issued by a military tribunal, although such instances are likely to be rare.