Extradition in France: Legal Defence for International Cases

France operates a two-stage extradition process combining judicial and executive review. The Chambre de l’instruction of the Court of Appeal assesses the legal admissibility of extradition requests; the Prime Minister (in practice, the Minister of Justice) then makes the final executive decision, retaining full discretion to refuse even after a positive judicial opinion. France’s absolute prohibition on extraditing its own nationals — established by Article 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — means that French citizens cannot be surrendered to any state under any circumstances.

When an extradition request arrives in France through diplomatic channels, it is transmitted to the Chambre de l’instruction. The court schedules a hearing at which the individual and their legal representatives can present arguments against extradition. The court assesses: treaty applicability, dual criminality, the political offence exception, double jeopardy, the statute of limitations, the specialty rule, and human rights concerns under ECHR standards. If the court issues a negative opinion, extradition is refused definitively. A positive opinion moves the case to the executive stage.

French courts apply the political offence exception broadly. The exception covers both inherently political offences and offences committed in a political context. Where an extradition request is motivated by the individual’s political opinions, ethnicity, religion, or nationality — rather than genuine criminal enforcement — French courts refuse it. This exception has been applied in cases involving Russian dissidents, Turkish post-2016 prosecutees, and others where the political character of the prosecution is credible. Human rights organisation reports, ECHR case law, and expert evidence on the requesting state’s judicial system are all relevant to the court’s assessment.

The Prime Minister’s extradition decree — or refusal — is the final act of the French extradition process. This executive discretion is exercised on political, diplomatic, and public policy grounds and has been used to refuse extradition in cases involving significant political sensitivity, including cases involving Catalan political figures (where Spain’s own extradition requests were involved) and cases where diplomatic relations with the requesting state were a factor. The existence of this executive stage provides a second independent opportunity to block a request that passed the judicial stage.

French refugee status, granted by OFPRA, provides strong protection against extradition to the country of persecution. A positive asylum decision arising during extradition proceedings is generally determinative — French courts and the executive have consistently treated refugee status as precluding extradition to the country whose persecution has been recognised. Pursuing an asylum claim simultaneously with extradition proceedings is a coherent and established strategy for individuals with a well-founded fear of persecution in the requesting state.

France is an active INTERPOL member and its Gendarmerie Nationale and Police Nationale enforce Red Notices. A person provisionally arrested in France under a Red Notice has the full range of French extradition defences available — including the political offence exception and human rights grounds — in the subsequent Chambre de l’instruction proceedings. Simultaneously challenging the Red Notice through the CCF process strengthens the overall defence. Contact our team for advice on France-connected extradition and Interpol cases. See also our Red Notice removal services and our Interpol lawyer France page.