1. How exactly does an extradition request work?
“It is customary to first issue a so-called ‘red notice’,” says Knoops, who is also lead counsel (the leader of a team of lawyers) for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. “This must be done via Interpol. A red notice is in fact a precursor to an international arrest warrant, a request to other countries to locate and arrest a person. The next step is an extradition request.”
Promes had a luxurious life as a star football player at Spartak Moscow in Russia. He was at a training camp in Dubai with his club, where he was placed under house arrest after allegedly causing a collision there at the beginning of this month. He was arrested yesterday at the request of the Netherlands.
After the arrest, the Netherlands has 60 days to submit an official request for extradition. Knoops: “That goes via the Public Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice to the authorities in Dubai.”
When asked, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service told RTL News that ‘the Netherlands will certainly submit a request for extradition’. The spokesperson did not want to say when this will happen.
2. Do countries need to have a treaty for extradition?
Not necessarily. Knoops cites the example of criminal Ridouan Taghi, who was arrested in December 2019 – also in Dubai – at the request of the Netherlands. At the time, there was no extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, yet Taghi was put on a plane to the Netherlands within a week.
“A country may only deport a non-resident if it has a good reason to do so,” says Knoops. “Taghi was deported from Dubai as an undesirable alien. But there was a lot of criticism of that course of events, because it was suspected that the Netherlands had a hand in the declaration of undesirability. And that is actually not as it should be if there is no treaty.”
Dubai and the Netherlands concluded one in August 2021 official extradition treaty.
3. What’s next in Dubai?
“An extradition judge in Dubai must assess the extradition request against the agreements in the treaty,” Knoops explains. “An important condition in this treaty is that someone is suspected of (or has already been convicted of) an offense punishable by at least one year in prison. This procedure is not initiated for a traffic violation.”
Another requirement is that the offense in question is punishable in both countries involved. There are also exceptions: most international treaties stipulate that extradition will not take place if there is a military offense or political persecution.
The hearing in Dubai will ‘not have the character of a substantive criminal case’, the criminal lawyer emphasizes. “The judge does not consider the question of whether Promes is guilty of the offenses for which the Netherlands prosecuted or convicted him. That is for the justice system in the Netherlands to assess.”
Promes may be defended by a lawyer during the hearing. “That must be a local lawyer,” says Knoops. “But they can be advised by lawyers from abroad, for example from the Netherlands or Russia.”
4. Can the extradition still fail?
“That could be possible,” says Knoops, “if Promes can immediately and convincingly demonstrate to the extradition judge that he is innocent. That must happen without delay, which means that you must have the evidence ready during the hearing, and not in a month or something like that. That evidence must be very strong. I have very rarely experienced that myself. Once was in Sierra Leone in 2006, when I was able to prove that a suspect had been in military detention during his alleged crimes. But as I said, that is very rare. If you cannot prove your innocence, a judge will reject your resistance to extradition.”
5. When will Promes be put on a plane?
Two routes are possible here, Knoops explains. Promes does not oppose or Promes does oppose the extradition. “In the first case, it can happen quickly, because then there is no need for a judge to be involved. Then you basically only have to arrange a flight. That can be done within a few weeks.”
If the footballer does object to his extradition, it could take ‘still months’, the lawyer thinks. “Because then you get a lawsuit, and I have personally experienced that it takes a while before cases are put on the agenda in Dubai.”
The substantive treatment itself can also take several days, Knoops knows. “A judge must assess whether the Netherlands has provided sufficient substantiation and documents showing that a criminal offense has indeed been committed. I have sometimes experienced a judge asking the Netherlands for more information. Then it takes even longer.”
Moreover, says Knoops, the fact that the treaty is still very new plays a role: “There is no case law yet on how this treaty should be interpreted and tested. So a judge still has to determine how certain rules should be interpreted in practice. That may take time.” costs. This case was not done with one stroke of the pen.”
Two prison sentences: what was it again?
Promes was arrested in December 2020 for allegedly stabbing his cousin in the knee with a knife. In June 2023, the judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison for serious assault. Promes has appealed against this conviction, which came about after the footballer himself talked about the stabbing in telephone conversations. He was already tapped by the police at that time, because he was suspected of involvement in drug trafficking.
The drug trade is said to have taken place via the port of Antwerp. Two loads of cocaine were allegedly smuggled under the leadership of the footballer in January 2020. The first batch contained approximately 650 kilos of cocaine. A few days later, about 713 kilos of coke were intercepted in Antwerp. Last month, Promes was convicted of this: he was given a prison sentence of six years. Promes will also appeal in this case, his lawyers have said.