The Constitutional Court has proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to Postpone Deciding on the Extradition of a Latvian Citizen to a Foreign State
On 12 April this year the Constitutional Court received Deniss Čalovskis’ constitutional complaints, which contain, inter alia, the request to suspend enforcement of the decision adopted by the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court, i.e., the request to suspend the extradition of the applicant to a foreign state – the United States of America. The applicant notes that the enforcement of this decision may create significant and irreversible violation of his fundamental rights.
The Constitutional Court established that in view of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Satversme [the Constitution], as well as Latvia’s international commitments in the field of human rights, it is necessary to decide on the aforementioned requests before the Panel of the Constitutional Court has adopted a decision on initiating a case or refusal to initiate a case.
The Constitutional Court concludes that it is necessary to suspend the enforcement of a ruling adopted by a court of general jurisdiction only in the absence of other judicial remedies to ensure effective enforcement of the ruling by the Constitutional Court or to prevent significant infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights. The proceedings of the Constitutional Court should be used in a way as to intervene as little as possible in issues, upon which a court of general jurisdiction has ruled.
Simultaneously, a person has the right to turn to the Constitutional Court in case his fundamental rights have been infringed. This, in its turn, means that until the moment the Constitutional Court has examined the grounds for constitutional judicial proceedings, the person should be ensured fundamental rights within the scope, which at the moment of submitting the application, follows from the Satversme. In this case the Cabinet of Ministers still has to take a decision on extraditing Deniss Čalovskis.
Hence, the Constitutional Court decided to propose to the Cabinet of Ministers to postpone deciding upon the issue of extraditing Deniss Čalovksis to the United States of America until the Panel of the Constitutional Court adopts a decision on initiating a case or refusing to initiate a case. The Panel of the Constitutional Court must adopt the decision by 12 June.