Switzerland received more than 400 extradition requests last year
Forty-eight prisoners were extradited last year, while 12 were brought to Switzerland.
Keystone / Michael Buholzer
Switzerland received 430 requests for the extradition of criminals last year, an increase of over a quarter compared to 2022.
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Meanwhile, Switzerland submitted more than 200 extradition requests to other countries, the justice ministry said on Thursday.
Almost 30,000 searches were carried out in Switzerland at the request of foreign states, around 1,500 more than in 2022; while Switzerland submitted around 200 search requests to other countries. Forty-eight prisoners were extradited last year, while 12 were brought to Switzerland.
The figures are from the 2023 activity report on international mutual judicial assistance.
In one case, according to the report, Ecuador requested Switzerland’s extradition of an Ecuadorian national: a 58-year-old man suspected of having abused two girls, aged seven and nine.
Following the assurance of diplomatic guarantees regarding procedural rights, detention conditions and disclosure of the detention location, the man was arrested at his place of residence in canton Vaud and handed over to the Ecuadorian authorities at Zurich Airport in October 2023.
In May 2023, a Swiss national was arrested at an airport in Bangkok while checking in for a flight to Vietnam. Three months later, he was extradited to Switzerland. The man was the subject of an international alert for offences under the Narcotics Act, having organised two deliveries of at least 2,000 methamphetamine pills to Switzerland in 2016.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp/ts
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