Chile

Article 6 of the Italy–Chile Treaty provides that extradition may be refused if, at the time of the request, the person sought is a national of the requested Party, unless such nationality was acquired for the purpose of preventing extradition. Although the Court of Appeal’s assessment as to the alleged instrumental nature of the citizenship application is certainly incorrect (since the application was submitted in 2011, i.e., at a time not suspect because it predates the commission of the offences underlying the extradition request), it must nevertheless be noted that the optional refusal is entrusted to the discretionary assessment of the Minister of Justice, as correctly stated by the Court of Appeal. This constitutes the exercise of a power expressly provided for in accordance with Article 26 of the Constitution, which allows the extradition of nationals when it is provided for by international conventions, without prejudice to the possibility of an optional refusal of surrender based on a discretionary evaluation entrusted to the executive branch and outside the jurisdiction of the judicial authority.