Extradition Lawyer in Athens: Council of the Athens Court of Appeal and the Local Procedure

First identify the legal route in the papers. Third-country extradition, a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) from another EU state and an INTERPOL Red Notice are different mechanisms with different procedures and deadlines.

Which Athens authority handles a non-EU extradition request?

For an ordinary case allocated to the Athens appellate district, the Council of Appeals of Athens examines the request; the President convenes it and the appellate prosecutor handles the procedural steps. Areios Pagos decisions in 2026 confirm that the Athens Council has considered extradition requests to Turkey and that appeals go to the Supreme Court.

The official Prosecutor’s Office website lists 14 Kyrillou Loukareos Street, Athens 11522, with contact and hearing information. Check that directory for current arrangements.

What changes if the arrest happens at Athens International Airport?

The Hellenic Police lists an Athens Airport Policing Directorate at Building 10 of the airport. If someone is stopped at passport control or arrivals, identify the arresting unit and the instrument named in the custody papers. Airport police do not make the final extradition decision.

A Red Notice can alert police to a foreign warrant, but INTERPOL itself describes it as a request for cooperation, not an international arrest warrant. It is not itself a Greek extradition decision; Greek authorities must identify the domestic legal basis and follow the applicable procedure. Identify whether the person is held under provisional extradition arrest, a formal third-country request or a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). An EAW issued by another EU Member State follows a separate surrender procedure.

For a third-country request assigned to the Athens district, Articles 436–456 of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure supply the ordinary procedure where no treaty governs and fill treaty gaps only where compatible; Greece is party to the 1957 European Convention on Extradition subject to recorded reservations and declarations. Greek nationality at the time of the act may bar ordinary extradition under Article 438(a), while the EAW route is separate; the nationwide treaty and refusal analysis belongs in the Greece country guide and extradition-challenges guide.

What should happen during the first 72 hours?

Practical plan only; there is no universal statutory 72-hour hearing deadline.

The Council may adjourn a hearing for up to eight days, or for a reasonable further period if required supporting documents are missing. Under Article 449(4), it may replace detention with restrictive conditions before it issues its opinion; any replacement ends automatically when the favourable extradition decision is published. Areios Pagos Decision 702/2026, arising from Council of Appeals of Athens Decision 20/2026, rejected a request to lift or replace detention after it dismissed the extradition appeal. This does not establish that every custody request during an appeal is unavailable: Article 451(2) allows Areios Pagos to consider detention while an appeal is pending, but the result is fact-specific and release is never automatic.

How do detention, file access and interpretation work locally?

After identity is checked, Article 446 provides for detention in a remand prison and forwarding the reports to the President. The Ministry lists Korydallos I and II in Attica, but the family must confirm the actual facility because transfers vary.

Article 447 lets the person or counsel inspect the file and request copies at the person’s expense. Obtain the foreign warrant, charge or judgment, identity details and translations; keep the custody form and record when each paper arrived. Article 449 allows a chosen lawyer and interpreter, or a request for appointments if needed. Ask for interpretation before answering substantive questions or signing. Consular contact does not replace defence counsel.

Article 452(2) requires release if the requesting state does not collect the person within two months after notification of the Minister’s extradition decision. The accessible legal texts conflict on the absolute detention cap: the Ministry’s original 2019 Code PDF says 12 months from arrest, extendable by six months, while a current consolidated legal database lists 24 months plus a possible six-month extension. Because the applicable amendment and any transitional provisions must be checked in the current Official Gazette, do not calculate a release date from either figure without confirmation by Greek counsel. These ordinary-extradition rules do not automatically apply to an EAW. Under Article 452(3), the competent Council resolves detention objections after the person has been summoned at least three days beforehand.

What does the Athens Council decide, and what happens next?

At the Athens hearing, the Council checks identity, required papers and whether the request is legally permissible; the applicable treaty defines the scope of review, so this is not generally a retrial of guilt. A favourable opinion is not surrender: under Article 452(1), the Minister acts only after the opinion becomes final, and consent under Article 448 is distinct from absence or a request for a closed hearing; detailed refusal grounds belong in the national extradition-challenges guide.

Which appeal deadline applies, and what do recent Athens cases show?

From a final Council of Appeals of Athens decision, Articles 450–451 permit an appeal to Areios Pagos within five days after publication in the hearing; the Supreme Court sitting as a council generally decides within 15 days. Decisions 701/2026 and 227/2026 show that appeal grounds must be clearly stated and any alleged obstacle to timely filing documented, while Decision 438/2026 applies the five-day period to EAW appeals despite older 24-hour wording in Law 3251/2004; other ordinary-extradition clocks do not carry over, and detailed refusal grounds and remedies belong in the Greece extradition-challenges guide.

Greek Supreme Court decisions are authoritative, but Greece does not apply common-law stare decisis. Areios Pagos hears the statutory appeal. Any constitutional or human-rights application is separate and does not automatically replace the five-day deadline. For refusal grounds and evidence, see the Greece extradition challenges page.

What should the family or foreign lawyer prepare?

• Full name, all spellings, birth details, citizenship and current or expired passports.
• Arrest record, time and place, police unit, custody reference and any prosecutor or court named in the papers.
• Every available warrant, judgment or request, offence description, relevant dates, sentence or pending charge, and translations.
• A dated chronology of travel, residence and prior proceedings, separating confirmed facts from assumptions.
• Evidence relevant to identity, service of a decision or finality of a judgment, such as travel records and court notices.
• The required interpretation language, a family contact and consular details if the person wants them; send clear scans and protect originals.

Hypothetical example: a Georgian citizen is stopped at Athens Airport after a non-EU state circulates a Red Notice. The family should identify the legal basis in the custody record, obtain the provisional-arrest date and confirm whether a formal request has arrived. If identity is disputed, counsel calculates the three-day period from presentation to the appellate prosecutor. If the papers instead name an EAW from another EU state, the separate EAW procedure applies.

Which related guide should be used next?

For national law, see Extradition from Greece; for refusal grounds, use the Greece extradition challenges guide. An EU warrant follows the separate EAW procedure; the INTERPOL Red Notice guide explains the alert. If the case belongs to the Piraeus district, use the Piraeus page.

If the person is detained or a deadline may be running, consult Greek counsel promptly and share the custody record and any decision through the request page.