664279-1887-Extradition-Treaty-Great-Britain-and-Russia — Page 3

!

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 21ST MAY, 1887. .

"ARTICLE V.

563

"The extradition shall not take place if, subsequently to the commission of the crime, or the institution of the penal prosecution, or the conviction thereon, exemption from prosecution or punish- ment has been acquired by lapse of time, according to the laws of the State applied to.

"ARTICLE VI.

"A fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered if the offence in respect of which his surrender is demanded is one of a political character, or if he prove that the requisition for his surrender has in fact been made with a view to try or punish him for an offence of a political character.

"ARTICLE VII.

"A person surrendered can in no case be kept in prison, or be brought to trial in the State to which the surrender has been made, for any other crime or on account of any other matters than those for which the extradition shall have taken place, until he has been restored or had an opportunity of returning to the State by which he has been surrendered.

"This stipulation does not apply to crimes committed after the extradition.

"ARTICLE VIII.

"The requisition for extradition shall be made through the Diplomatic Agents of the High Con- tracting Parties respectively.

"The requisition for the extradition of an accused person must be accompanied by a warrant of arrest issued by the competent authority of the State requiring the extradition, and by such evidence. as, according to the laws of the place where the accused is found, would justify his arrest if the crime had been committed there.

"If the requisition relates to a person already convicted, it must be accompanied by the sentence of condemnation passed against the convicted person by the competent Court of the State that makes the requisition for extradition.

may

"A sentence passed in contumacium is not to be deemed a conviction, but a person so sentenced be dealt with as an accused person.

"ARTICLE IX.

If the requisition for extradition be in accordance with the foregoing stipulations, the compe- tent authorities of the State applied to shall proceed to the arrest of the fugitive.

"ARTICLE X.

"If the fugitive has been arrested in the British dominions, he shall forthwith be brought before a competent Magistrate, who is to examine him and to conduct the preliminary investigation of the case, just as if the apprehension had taken place for a crime committed in the British dominions.

"In the examinations which they have to make in accordance with the foregoing stipulations, the authorities of the British dominions shall admit as valid evidence the sworn depositions or the affirmations of witnesses taken in Russia, or copies thereof, and likewise the warrants and sentences issued therein, and certificates of, or judicial documents stating the fact of, a conviction, provided the same are authenticated as follows:-

"1. A warrant must purport to be signed by a Judge, Magistrate, or officer of the Russian State. "2. Depositions or affirmations or the copies thereof must purport to be certified under the hand of a Judge, Magistrate, or officer of the Russian State, to be the original depositions or affirmations, or to be truc copies thereof, as the case may require.

"3. A certificate of or judicial document stating the fact of a conviction must purport to be certi- fied by a Judge, Magistrate, or officer of the Russian State.

4. In every case such warrant, deposition, affirmation, copy, certificate, or judicial document. must be authenticated either by the oath of some witness, or by being sealed with the official seal of the Minister of Justice, or some other Minister of the Russian State; but any other mode of authen- tication for the time being permitted by the law of the British dominion, where the examination is taken, may be substituted for the foregoing.

ARTICLE XI.

"If the fugitive has been arrested in Russia his surrender shall be granted if upon examination by a competent authority it appears that the documents furnished by the British Government furnish sufficient primâ facie evidence to justify the extradition.

"The Russian authorities shall admit as valid evidence records drawn up by the British authorities of the depositions of witnesses, or copies thereof, and records of conviction or other judicial documents or copies thereof: Provided that the said documents be signed or authenticated by an authority whose competence shall be certified by the seal of a Minister of State of Her Britannic Majesty.

"ARTICLE XII.

"The extradition shall not take place unless the evidence be found sufficient, according to the laws of the State applied to, either to justify the committal of the prisoner for trial, in case the crime had been committed in the territory of the said State, or to prove that the prisoner is the identical person convicted by the Courts of the State which makes the requisition, and that the crime of which he has been convicted is one in respect of which extradition could, at the time of such conviction, have been granted by the State applied to. And the fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered until the expiration of fifteen days from the date of his being committed to prison to await his surrender.