At Wednesday's plenary session, the Federation Council approved laws on the ratification of treaties between Russia and Syria on extradition of suspects and those accused of crimes and on mutual legal assistance in criminal cases.
Both documents were signed in St. Petersburg on June 29 last year and submitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the State Duma for ratification on March 4. The treaties are aimed at creating a legal framework for bilateral Russian-Syrian cooperation on these issues.
One of the documents stipulates the obligation of the parties to extradite at the mutual request individuals for prosecution or execution of a sentence for a number of crimes. Extradition applies to those accused and suspected of punishable acts subject to at least one year of imprisonment or a more severe punishment under the legislation of the countries. The treaty sets out the requirements for drafting and submitting a request for extradition, as well as procedural guarantees for the extradited person.
It also regulates issues on the conditions of extradition, as well as the criteria and grounds for refusing it. In particular, extradition will be refused if the crime requested is punishable by the death penalty under the law of the requesting party. The exception is when that party "provides a sufficient guarantee, according to the requested party, that the person whose extradition is requested will not be subject to the death penalty." If needed, the requesting party may request that the person be temporarily detained for up to 60 days before a request for extradition is made.
Another treaty, on mutual assistance in criminal matters, regulates the obligations of the parties to provide legal assistance, its scope, refusal or postponement. The document sets forth the provision according to which the mutual legal assistance is provided in criminal prosecutions or in connection with the proceedings on tax (financial) and customs crimes. At the same time it is stipulated that legal assistance may be refused if its execution may prejudice the sovereignty, security, public order of the requested party, if the request concerns a crime against military service, which is not a crime under ordinary criminal law.
As noted in the accompanying documents to the laws, the ratified treaties are fully in the interests of the Russian Federation and will contribute to the goals of justice and the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Moscow-Live/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS