Extradition and Political Crimes

Sibel Top is a postdoctoral researcher and the managing director of the Fundamental Rights Research Center of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is also an affiliated researcher of the Center for Migration, Diversity and Justice of the Brussels School of Governance of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

"The book fills a gap in the literature on extradition and judicial co-operation in Europe. It is unique in providing a comprehensive and topical multi-disciplinary analysis of the challenges arising from the application of the political offence exception in extradition law. The book is required reading for audiences with expertise in law, international relations and political science and will be of interest to scholars, students and practitioners alike. Sibel Top has emerged as a leading critical voice in the field."Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Dean of the School of Law and Social Justice & Professor of European and Global Law, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom"Sibel Top’s book comes some 50 years after I wrote my own PhD on the same subject. When I started studying it, the political offence exception was still generally accepted. At the same time, the process of its erosion was getting in full motion as I was writing, against the backdrop of a multitude of terrorist attacks in the 1970ies and 80ies. Today, this erosion seems to be complete, especially in Europe, with the advent, shortly after 9/11, of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). But, as Sibel Top shows, times are changing again. Recent events indicate a decline in democracies around the world and in Europe and are resuscitating the need for a political offence exception. A case in point is the Catalan crisis, in which prominent Catalan leaders have been seeking protection against Spanish EAWs in various European States. None of them has been surrendered. We may, as Sibel Top suggests, be witnessing the rise of a potential “ghost political offence exception”. The blind mutual confidence between EU States is no longer obvious. One can only hope that there will be no further decline in democracies, but recent developments in parts of Europe and the rest of the world do not augur well. New “ghost exceptions” may be needed to reset the balance. This book is an excellent study for both academics and practitioners interested in this fascinating and ever-challenging field of the law."Judge C. Van den Wyngaert, International Court of Justice (2000-2002), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2003-2009), International Criminal Court (2009-2018), and Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium

• 1. Reviving the political offence exception in Europe. 2. The concept of the political offence exception to extradition and existing tests to determine the political nature of an offence. 3. Evolution of the political offence exception in CoE Conventions. 4. Evolution of the political offence exception in the EU legal framework. 5. Catalan independence crisis: understanding the reaction of the Spanish government to Catalan claims of a fight for national liberation. 6. Between a rock and a hard place: EU member states in the Catalan independence crisis and the crisis of the European arrest warrant system. 7. Abolition and use of the political offence exception clause in the European context.