🇮🇹 Italy → 🇦🇱 Albania

The case concerned Albanian requests for extradition from Italy for the execution of convictions for fraud. The proceedings followed an annulment by the Italian Supreme Court, which held that, under the European Convention on Extradition, an execution request requires transmission of an enforceable conviction, not necessarily an irrevocable one. On remand, the Court of Appeal of Bologna declared the conditions for extradition satisfied. It held that the Albanian appellate judgment, although still potentially subject to challenge under Albanian law, was executable and therefore sufficient for extradition purposes. The Court also rejected the defence argument that Italy should exercise jurisdiction because the offence had been committed abroad by persons allegedly assimilated to Italian citizens for criminal-law purposes. Since the offence had not been committed in Italy and Italian law allowed prosecution of the same type of offence committed abroad, Article 7 of the European Convention did not bar extradition. The Court further held that trial in absentia was not an obstacle, because Albanian law allowed restoration of time to challenge a judgment rendered in absentia and that remedy had in fact been used. Nor was Albania required to prove the absence of parallel proceedings in a third State. Finally, the Court rejected the request to allow execution of the sentence in Italy, holding that, in extradition proceedings, the Court only assesses the legal possibility of surrender, while any opportunity assessment linked to rooting in Italy belongs to the Minister of Justice. Extradition was therefore granted.