Eduardo González
This past Tuesday, the Council of Ministers sent to the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) three agreements between Spain and Nigeria on judicial assistance in criminal matters, extradition and transfer of convicted persons, while authorizing the expression of Spain’s consent to be bound by the aforementioned treaties.
The three treaties (mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, extradition and transfer of convicted persons) are “the result of the desire of both countries to strengthen their ties and regulate relations” in these three areas, according to the Government. Both in matters of criminal legal assistance and extradition, the links between the two countries have been governed to date by the principle of international reciprocity.
The initial proposals on these three treaties were presented by Spain in July 2019, after which both countries exchanged content observations regarding these initial proposals.
The three agreements were signed on June 1, 2022 in Madrid on the occasion of the visit to Spain of the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and were authorized and sent to the Cortes Generales during the Council of Ministers meeting on February 7, 2023. However, the dissolution of the Congress and the Senate to call the early elections on July 23 paralyzed the momentum of the three agreements and forced them to be sent back to the Parliament.
The Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Government of the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria regulates, in general, the provision of mutual legal assistance in criminal proceedings, establishing the modalities of said assistance, as well as the peculiarities of its procedure.
Likewise, the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is justified by the need to have an instrument of legal cooperation in criminal matters that facilitates the delivery of fugitives between the two countries, avoiding thus any hint of impunity that may exist, especially in cases of organized crime and cross-border crimes.
Finally, the Agreement on the transfer of convicted persons between the Government of the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is justified by the need to have an instrument of legal cooperation on the transfer of convicted persons that facilitates compliance of the sentences imposed abroad in the country of nationality of the convicted person, thus favoring integration and combating the social uprooting caused by internment in a country other than that of origin.
