The Extradition Process: Stages, Grounds for Refusal and Procedural Defence of the Requested Person

This Research Note continues the Buenos Aires Desk publication line of ARGA Observatory, devoted to the comparative analysis of international legal relocation. Whereas Research Note No. 1 examined extradition security as a criterion for choosing a jurisdiction, the present work analyses the extradition process from within: as a sequence of procedural stages, a catalogue of grounds for refusal, and a system of defence tools available to the requested person. The study is built around a stage-by-stage analysis rather than a country-by-country comparison. Argentina is used as the load-bearing jurisdiction, with its extradition procedure reconstructed on the basis of Law No. 24,767 and official case-law materials of the Argentine Public Prosecution Service. Brazil and Chile are used as contrastive models: Chile represents a wholly judicial model without a separate executive stage, while Brazil represents a politico-judicial model with presidential discretion at the final stage. The note identifies four comparative observations. First, there is a systematic divergence between the formal catalogue of grounds for refusal and the practice of their activation. Second, humanitarian factors are located at different stages of the extradition process in different jurisdictions. Third, the key distinction between jurisdictions lies not in the mere existence of judicial control, but in the placement of executive power relative to that control. Fourth, the most effective defence tools often arise at the boundaries of the judicial stage, including asylum procedures and challenges to Interpol notices. The publication develops the Buenos Aires Desk research line and prepares the basis for further analysis of mechanisms of international legal defence.