Judicial cooperationEnglish-speaking extradition lawyer in Spain

Surrender is not a retrial

Under a European Arrest Warrant, the Spanish court does not re-examine whether you are guilty. It checks whether the conditions for surrender are met. That is a narrow but real battleground, and it moves quickly.

Extradition to a non-EU state follows a different, longer procedure in which the guarantees offered by the requesting country are examined much more widely.

Consenting to surrender at the first hearing is, in principle, irreversible. Never consent before you have been advised.

Grounds we examine

• Double criminality where still required, and limitation periods.
• Ne bis in idem: a final judgment on the same facts bars surrender.
• Risk of inhuman treatment or prison conditions breaching fundamental rights.
• Procedural defects: identity, reasoning of the warrant, and guarantees of a retrial where you were convicted in absentia.
• Bail during the surrender proceedings.

Act immediately

Call us from the moment of arrest. See also English-speaking criminal lawyer in Alicante.

Never consent at the first hearing

At the initial hearing you will be asked whether you consent to surrender. Consent is, in principle, irrevocable, and it closes every door that follows. It is offered as though it were a formality. It is not.

Under a European Arrest Warrant the Spanish court does not examine whether you are guilty. It checks whether the conditions for surrender are met. That is a narrow battlefield, but it is a real one, and it moves fast: the timescales are measured in days.

The grounds that actually work

• Ne bis in idem. A final judgment on the same facts, anywhere in the EU, bars surrender.
• Limitation. Where the facts are time-barred, the warrant fails.
• Prison conditions. A real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in the requesting state has repeatedly blocked surrender, and it requires concrete evidence about the specific prison, not general assertions.
• Trial in absentia. If you were convicted without being present, surrender requires a guarantee of retrial.
• Identity and reasoning. Warrants are sometimes issued against the wrong person, or with reasoning too thin to sustain them.

Bail while the case is decided

You can be released pending the surrender procedure. It is not automatic, and the flight risk argument is raised almost by default against a foreign national. It is defeated with concrete material: a fixed address in Spain, family ties, employment, surrender of the passport, financial guarantees, regular reporting to the court.

Interpol red notices work differently: they are not themselves an arrest warrant, and they can be challenged before the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files.