Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in International Criminal Law

Manikanta Chowdary Veerapaneni; Adnan Raza Hussain Syed

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.88366

Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in International Criminal Law

Author(s)	Mr. Manikanta Chowdary Veerapaneni, Mr. Adnan Raza Hussain Syed
Country	India
Abstract	Crimes occur internationally as an accused individual could have escaped from the State in which an offence was committed and witness information may be on documents in other States or electronic data may exist in another country or have moved to that country and financial resources are elsewhere. These issues of State territoriality pose barriers against evidence collection and prosecution in international/transnational crime. Two important State-led tools to counter this problem are extradition and MLA. Extradition and MLA are two key mechanisms States may use. The formal definition of extradition is the surrender by one State of a person sought in criminal proceedings, either for prosecution or after being sentenced. MLA, on the other hand, refers to State cooperation within their legal systems to obtain evidence for and perform acts of investigative or judicial activity in criminal proceedings. Both extradition and MLA promote the fight against impunity, yet their operation varies and there are separate legal requirements each instrument imposes. This project looks into the definition, legal basis, principles and procedural issues of extradition and MLA in International criminal Law as well as their limitations. It takes into consideration concepts such as "dual criminality," "speciality," "ne bis in idem," the "political-offence exception" as well as human rights concerns related to both extradition and MLA. Various instruments are analyzed within the project, such as the Model Treaty on Extradition developed by UN, Model Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters developed by the UN, United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as well as the Rome Statute of the ICC. Conclusively, this study argues that extradition and MLA are vital mechanisms within International criminal justice that rely, for their effectiveness, on State cooperation. The project recommends that countries increase multilateral cooperation among themselves, have highly efficient central authorities to perform tasks as per both MLA and extradition rules and rely on technology to facilitate information exchange and respect human rights principles.
Keywords	MLA (MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE),UNODC(united nations office on drugs and crime),ICC(International Criminal Law),UNCAC(United Nations Convention against Corruption)
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-09-24
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.88366

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Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in International Criminal Law

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