Protection for the individual in the Swedish Extradition Act & Arrest Warrant Act against onward extradition and onward surrender : Surrender of a person to another member state for prosecution or punishment, when the latter state extradites the person to a third country or surrenders to another member state

This master thesis illustrates and analyzes the limitations in the Swedish Extradition Act and Arrest Warrant Act of the possibilities of onward extradition to a third country and onward surrender to another member state. In a more global world the need for international cooperation in the field of criminal law is eminent more than ever. While, according to international law, each state has legal authority over people residing within its territory, many countries have entered extradition agreements with other countries around the world. The principle of reciprocity is in Sweden not binding and extradition can take place even without a specific international agreement, as long as it is in accordance with the Swedish Extradition Act. Extradition is the legal process that allows the transfer of a suspected or convicted person from one jurisdiction to another. The extradition is requested for the purpose of prosecution or punishment in another country. The development in the European Union has led to the use of the European Arrest Warrant for surrender by national judicial authorities, which is an efficient way for cross-border transfers of requested persons, based on the EU-principle of mutual recognition. The differences in the requirements for extradition and surrender in the two applicable national laws will in this essay be examined. The focus is on the speciality principle which means that a person who is extradited or surrendered to another country to stand trial for certain criminal offenses may be tried for only those offenses and may not be re-extradited or re-surrendered to the third state. Nonetheless there is a possibility for the individual or the member state to consent to the individual not being protected by the speciality rule. This regulation, in both the Extradition Act and the Arrest Warrant Act, is paired with an in depth-analysis in order to fulfill the purpose of the essay. The perspective on the individual in the essay presents the right not to suffer from bad consequences after an extradition or a surrender and it also presents the individual's opportunity to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights claiming the rights and freedoms in the European Convention on Human Rights. This master thesis shows both the need for and the actual protection of the individual in the field of extradition and surrender.