Pursuant to Article 698(2) of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, where the offence for which extradition is sought is punishable by death under the law of the requesting State, extradition may be granted only where the judicial authority has ascertained that a final and irrevocable decision has been adopted imposing a penalty other than the death penalty or, if the death penalty has been imposed, that it has been commuted to a different sentence. This principle also applies at the stage preceding the decision on surrender—namely, the pre-custodial and custodial stages—which are closely interconnected and functionally preparatory to the final extradition decision; otherwise, there would be no legal justification for restricting, even temporarily and provisionally, the personal liberty of the person concerned. Accordingly, an arrest carried out by the judicial police under Article 716(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for extradition purposes in relation to an offence punishable by death under the law of the requesting State is unlawful; nor may a provisional coercive custodial measure be imposed for the same offence pursuant to Article 716(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.