DOJ-OGR-00020187.jpg

CaGede2DepQ0360uAUNit Bi Cumenrl 1702 1Fileé 83228 /249 Plageold Ob 18 WILLIAM JULIE AVOCAT A LA COUR — ATTORNEY AT LAW Criminal Procedure use the present tense (“a person who is a national of the Requested State’”/”the person claimed Aas French nationality”), which can only mean that the extradition of a person is denied when that person is in fact a French national. If the person is no longer a French national at the time of the request, the provision does not apply. 12. Had these provisions been intended to apply in cases where the person has lost French nationality subsequent to the commission of the alleged crime, the texts would have expressly stated so or would at least have used both the present and the past tense to qualify the national affiliation of the requested person. 13. Furthermore, it is a well-known principle of legal interpretation across all jurisdictions that exceptions to rules must be construed strictly. The nationality ban being an exception to extradition, it must be interpreted in a restrictive manner and its application to a person who is no longer a French national must be rejected. 14. Second, the Ministry’s interpretation goes against the spirit of the law 15. The literal reading of Article 3 of the Treaty and Article 696-4 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure is further supported by the fact that these provisions were in fact not intended to apply in cases where the person sought has lost French citizenship, but only in cases where that person has acquired French citizenship subsequent to the commission of the alleged crime. 16. In other words, the rule that “nationality shall be assessed at the time of the offence for which extradition is requested” seeks to deny the extension of the benefit of French nationality to persons who have acquired French nationality after committing an offence, in order to avoid fraudulent nationality applications of offenders seeking to escape extradition. 51, RUE AMPERE - 75017 PARIS - TEL. O1 88 33 Si 8O- FAX. Oi 88 33 5i BI wj@wjavocats.com - www.wjavocats.com - PALAIS C1652 DOJ-OGR-00020187