🇮🇹 Italy → 🇺🇸 United States

The request by the Minister of Justice for the revocation of the custodial measure leaves no room for discretion, as the law provides that “revocation shall always be ordered if the Minister of Justice so requests.” In such cases, where the proceedings are pending before the Court of Cassation, that Court has jurisdiction to decide on the revocation of the measure, and the immediate release of the person sought for extradition must be ordered.

In extradition matters, the seizure of the corpus delicti and of items pertaining thereto, ordered on an urgent basis by the judicial police within the framework of an extradition procedure, must be validated by the Court of Appeal. The latter is required to provide reasons—on the basis of the applicable conventional framework, as well as Article 714(1) of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, insofar as not derogated—regarding the existence of a nexus of pertinence between the seized assets and the offence underlying the extradition request, through an assessment of the evidentiary needs put forward by the requesting foreign authority (in the present case, a seizure carried out by the judicial police in the context of an extradition procedure initiated by the United States of America).

The Court of Appeal must refuse extradition “where reasons of health or age entail a risk of consequences of exceptional gravity for the requested person.” Such a ground for refusal may apply not only where adequate medical treatment cannot be ensured in the requesting State, but also where the extradition procedure itself is liable to prejudice the person’s health. In particular, such prejudice does not arise from any negative impact on the individual’s health, but only where extradition may result in consequences of exceptional gravity, namely serious and objectively verifiable pathological effects. Accordingly, the Court cannot confine its assessment to verifying whether the healthcare facilities in the requesting State are adequate to meet the person’s therapeutic needs, but must also take into account the concrete impact—and thus the potential adverse effects—of the surrender procedure on the requested person’s health. This includes, for example, the difficulties and possible complications arising from the transfer abroad or the need to avoid interruption of ongoing medical treatment.