Extradition from Greece: How the Procedure Works and What an Extradition Lawyer Does

If you or a relative has been arrested, distinguish a Red Notice from an arrest, a court opinion and the Minister's surrender decision. Obtain the Greek record, identify whether the case is ordinary extradition or a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), and contact Greek defence counsel immediately.

Which procedure applies: extradition or a European Arrest Warrant?

Start with the requesting state and legal instrument. For a non-EU request, the usual framework is the applicable extradition treaty plus, where consistent with it, the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), Law 4620/2019, Articles 436–457. Article 436 makes the Code applicable where no convention governs, subject to reciprocity, and fills gaps left by a treaty. A bilateral or specialised treaty may change the result, so counsel must identify the precise legal basis.

An EAW from another EU Member State follows a separate surrender procedure under Greek Law 3251/2004 and Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA. It is not ordinary extradition under another name: authorities, refusal rules and deadlines differ. Article 17 of the Framework Decision sets 10 days after consent and 60 days from arrest in other cases, with a possible further 30 days in specified circumstances. These are EAW decision periods, not ordinary-extradition appeal or detention limits. A request from a non-EU European state is not an EAW merely because the state is in Europe; identify whether a separate surrender agreement applies. See the EAW procedure guide.

Greece has been bound by the 1957 European Convention on Extradition (ETS No. 24) since 27 August 1961. The Council of Europe Treaty Office records Greek reservations and declarations concerning nationality (Article 6), jurisdiction (Article 7), the death penalty (Article 11), certain repeat requests (Article 18(4)) and postponement of surrender (Article 19). Read the Convention with those declarations and the current CCP; check any other treaty against the requesting state and alleged conduct.

What Greek law governs an ordinary extradition request?

The main domestic provisions are in Book Five, Section Three, Chapter One of the CCP. The applicable treaty may modify how a provision operates.

Who decides: the Court of Appeal, Areios Pagos or the Minister?

The working label—Council of Appeal Judges plus Areios Pagos—is broadly correct but incomplete. The first-instance body is the Council of the territorially competent Court of Appeal (Symvoulio Efeton), not a single national extradition court in Athens. The district depends on the person's location and the authorities handling the request. The Court of Appeal President and Prosecutor have defined roles in arrest and file preparation.

The Council of the Court of Appeal gives a reasoned judicial opinion on the request. Under Article 451, the requested person and the Court of Appeal Prosecutor may appeal the final decision to the Areios Pagos. The Supreme Court hears that statutory appeal in council formation. The executive stage is separate: Article 452 permits the Minister of Justice to order extradition only after the Council has given a favourable opinion that is no longer open to appeal. The Minister is therefore not a substitute appellate court, and a favourable court opinion is not itself the ministerial surrender order. The appeal must comply with Article 474 and state its grounds. In Decision 124/2026, the Areios Pagos confirmed that where an appeal specifies grounds, review is confined to the matters those grounds challenge; counsel should state clearly every issue intended for review.

In practice, counsel must establish whether the file remains before the Council, whether the five-day appeal period has started, whether the decision is final and whether the Minister's decision has been notified. Each stage has a different authority and consequence.

How does an ordinary extradition case move from arrest to surrender?

What rights does a person have at the first hearing?

The extradition hearing is a judicial proceeding, not an informal police interview. Article 449 allows the person to appear with counsel and an interpreter of choice; if neither is available, they may request appointments from the Court of Appeal President. Hearings are generally public, subject to statutory exceptions. Discuss procedural choices with counsel before the hearing.

Under Article 450, the Council gives a reasoned opinion on identity, required documents, whether the offence qualifies for extradition and applicable legal bars. Under Article 450(2), unless a treaty provision prevents it, the Council also examines whether the official evidence supplied would support arrest and committal for trial in Greece if the offence had been committed there; it may collect further useful material and postpone its final decision for up to three months. It does not ordinarily conduct a full trial on guilt. The scope of this limited evidential review depends on the governing convention and file. For a request to enforce a sentence, do not assume this evidentiary test applies: the governing treaty may displace it.

Article 447 gives the person a right to be informed of the documents and request copies at their own expense. Counsel should compare the original warrant or judgment, identity record and treaty documents, and request any supplementary explanations received from the foreign state.

How long can detention last, and is release on bail possible?

Detention is not inevitable at every stage. Under Article 449, the competent Council may order provisional release and determine bail under domestic procedural rules. It assesses the circumstances; residence, family ties or an offer of bail do not guarantee release. Provisional release may cease when an extradition decision is published, so counsel must check the effect of each order rather than assume bail continues through appeal.

Article 452 sets a 24-month detention limit from arrest, extendable by the judicial council for a further six months. Article 96 of Law 4623/2019 changed the original 12-month period to 24 months. It separately requires release if the requesting state does not collect the person within two months after the Minister's decision is notified to the requesting state. These are safeguards, not a prediction of case length or automatic release without checking the custody record. For a detention challenge, the competent Council resolves objections under Article 452; counsel should calculate from the documented arrest date and check any extension order.

These limits differ from EAW deadlines. The Framework Decision's 10-, 60- and possible additional 30-day periods concern the decision to execute an EAW; custody follows applicable EU and Greek rules. Expiry of a decision period does not necessarily mean automatic release. Article 452 also directs the competent Court of Appeal Council to resolve doubts or objections about extradition detention; counsel should request a prompt ruling and verify the custody record.

What if the person is Greek, has two nationalities or is already facing a case in Greece?

Article 438(a) prohibits ordinary extradition if the person was Greek when the act occurred. The effective date of citizenship matters, so obtain evidence beyond a current passport. Do not automatically apply this rule to an EAW, which follows a separate regime. Dual nationality alone does not determine the procedure or any treaty exception.

Under Article 441, surrender may be postponed while a Greek prosecution is pending and, after conviction, until the sentence is served or the person is released. Article 442 covers temporary surrender in specified circumstances. The Areios Pagos clarified in Decision 790/2025 that this postpones the Minister’s surrender decision, not the judicial examination of the extradition request or the appeal. Before treating the Minister's decision as an immediate handover, counsel should check for Greek charges, hearings, sentences and any order affecting timing.

What does consent to extradition change?

Consent is not the same as waiving a hearing. Article 448 requires express consent before the relevant Court of Appeal President, with counsel present and an interpreter if the person does not understand Greek. The person must be told that the declaration is irrevocable. Consent may shorten proceedings but can remove opportunities to contest the request; obtain independent advice in a language the person understands first.

Consent does not erase the rule of speciality: in general, the requesting state may not prosecute for other pre-surrender conduct beyond the acts covered by surrender, subject to treaty and statutory exceptions. Counsel should explain the charges or sentence covered, any additional counts, and whether later prosecution or onward transfer requires Greek consent. Consent to surrender is separate from a waiver of appearance or another procedural right.

What should an extradition lawyer do at each stage?

Effective representation starts with identifying the procedure, not promising an outcome. Counsel should establish whether this is ordinary extradition, an EAW, provisional arrest based on an alert or an immigration measure. Extradition, EAW surrender and deportation are distinct; a Red Notice is not proof that a surrender order exists.

• Immediately after arrest: confirm the authority, legal instrument, arrest time, competent district, interpreter and access to counsel. Where appropriate, notify the consulate and tell the family which authority holds the person.
• When the file arrives: check identity, warrant or final judgment, offence and sentence, translations, legal provisions, treaty status and any Article 444 request for clarification.
• Before the Council hearing: organise evidence of identity, citizenship, Greek proceedings and the status of any foreign judgment. Detailed refusal grounds and evidence are covered in the guide to challenging extradition from Greece.
• After the decision: record the publication date, assess the Article 451 appeal, check custody orders and track the ministerial stage if the opinion becomes final and favourable.
• For a person elsewhere in Greece: consult the district guide instead of assuming Athens practice applies nationally. Dedicated pages cover Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion; Patras and Piraeus are also in the site plan.

For an EU citizen sought by a third state, EU law may require additional coordination if Articles 18 and 21 TFEU apply. In BY (C-398/19, 17 December 2020), the Court of Justice clarified that the requested state must share the relevant facts and law with the EU citizen's state of nationality and give it a reasonable opportunity to issue an EAW for at least the same offences. The requested state need not obtain the full criminal investigation file and may proceed after a reasonable deadline if no relevant EAW is issued. This does not create automatic immunity from extradition. For a request to enforce a sentence, the separate judgment in Generalstaatsanwaltschaft München (C-237/21, 22 December 2022) may also matter: where the EU citizen resides permanently in the requested state, that state's law bars extradition of its own nationals for sentence enforcement and permits local execution, the requested state must actively seek the third state's consent to serve the sentence locally. If consent is not obtained, extradition may still be possible under an applicable international obligation, provided fundamental rights are respected. A later judgment, Kamekris (C-219/25 PPU, 19 June 2025), also matters where another EU Member State previously refused extradition of the same person to the same third state because of a serious risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or a breach of the right to a fair trial: EU law does not require automatic refusal merely because of that earlier decision, but the new state must duly consider the reasons for it in its own fundamental-rights assessment. These EU-law issues are fact-dependent and do not replace the Greek statutory appeal.

What should the person and family prepare now?

Prepare a dated folder and keep originals safe. Include the Greek arrest and custody records; foreign warrant, indictment or final judgment; the offence and sentencing provisions; identity documents and evidence of any name or nationality change; the arrest date and any detention-extension order; and all summonses, court decisions, ministerial notices and translations. For a conviction request, include evidence of finality and whether the person was notified and could attend or be represented.

Family members should record the exact arrest time and location, contacting authority, interpreter's name and dates on all papers. Do not negotiate directly with foreign police or make inconsistent statements. Send documents securely and ask counsel to confirm the next hearing, custody basis, appeal deadline and who must file each document.

Hypothetical example: a non-Greek national is arrested in Thessaloniki after a non-EU state requests extradition for prosecution. The defence should first establish that this is an ordinary extradition case, obtain the request and arrest record, check whether the alleged offence meets Article 437 and the relevant treaty threshold, and prepare for the competent Court of Appeal Council. If the Council publishes an adverse final decision, the lawyer should treat the five-day Article 451 period as urgent and calculate it from publication, not from the date the family learns of the result.

Where can you read about refusal grounds and local court practice?

This guide explains the ordinary procedure and the roles of the court and Minister, not every refusal ground or appeal argument. Article 438 includes prohibitions and human-rights protections that depend on the facts and treaty; detailed grounds and evidence are covered on the refusal and appeal page. For the international sequence, see how extradition works from request to final decision.

Local court logistics—such as the district authority, access arrangements, and where a person arrested in a particular area is held—should be confirmed for the actual arrest location. This page does not imply that the same detention facility, hearing venue or local timetable applies throughout Greece.

The site team coordinates cross-border defence with local counsel where needed. To request coordination, use the contact request page.