Extradition Lawyer in Batumi: Batumi City Court and the Local Procedure

Which Batumi institution handles the first detention decision?

The statute does not designate a separate “extradition chamber”: Article 30 directs the prosecutor to a magistrate judge for the place of arrest. The judge may order extradition detention or another Criminal Procedure Code measure. The 48-hour clock runs from arrest.

The official Georgian court directory lists Batumi City Court at 30 Zubalashvili Street, Batumi, telephone (+995 422) 27-97-33, and batumi@court.ge. The court announced that its temporary address batumi.court@gmail.com stopped operating on 1 March 2025. Its published territorial area includes Batumi and Kobuleti Municipality. Contact the registry to confirm the duty judge, case number, courtroom and filing method before travelling.

Local institutions and travel points: who does what?

The first 72 hours: a practical action plan and the statutory 48-hour deadline

This is a practical action plan, not a separate 72-hour statutory deadline; the specific statutory clock is 48 hours from arrest.

1. Immediately: identify the arresting agency, the recorded legal basis, the time and place of arrest, the supervising prosecutor and the destination facility. Article 30(1) covers a foreign extradition request, a temporary-detention request for extradition, or international wanted status.
2. Within 48 hours: the supervising prosecutor must apply to the magistrate judge for the place of arrest for a restraint measure. Ask for the court, case number, hearing time and written ruling.
3. At the hearing: address identity, the basis for the alert/request, the need for detention and any less restrictive measure. Have identity papers, residence evidence, relevant medical records and documents about Georgian proceedings ready. An INTERPOL notice is not a final extradition decision.
4. After the order: obtain the written decision and record when it was served. The seven-day appeal period runs from service on the person, not from a family update; confirm filing instructions with the registry immediately.

How long can extradition detention last, and who hears an appeal?

Article 30(6) sets an initial extradition-detention period of three months, extendable by three months no more than twice for extradition-related needs. A magistrate judge may change or cancel detention or another restraint measure during the proceedings. Custody in a separate Georgian criminal case raises different questions; do not automatically add or deduct that period without case-specific advice.

Do not confuse the Article 30(6) detention period with the earlier provisional-arrest period while the formal request is pending. The Council of Europe’s national-procedure sheet states that, where the European Convention on Extradition applies, the formal extradition request must be presented within 40 days from arrest. Counsel should calculate that treaty deadline separately and check any applicable agreement; the three-month detention period is not an automatic extension of the 40-day request deadline.

Under Article 30(5), an appeal must be filed with the Investigative Chamber of the competent Court of Appeals within seven days after the restraint decision is served on the person; the chamber must review it within five days. The official court-system information assigns the Batumi and Khelvachauri court areas to the Kutaisi Court of Appeals, so this is the expected appellate forum for an Article 30 appeal arising there. Confirm the correct registry and filing method immediately. This appeal is separate from cassation against the later admissibility ruling.

Will Batumi City Court decide the whole extradition request?

Not necessarily. Article 34 separately governs admissibility. The prosecutor must notify the defence 10 days before applying to the relevant district/city court; the parties then have five days after notification to exchange intended documents. The court must set a hearing within seven days after receiving the documents specified in Article 34(6). Cassation to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Chamber must be filed within seven days after the ruling is delivered; the first hearing must be set within five days after receipt of the cassation appeal. The Minister of Justice then makes the final surrender decision, which is not appealable.

The Council of Europe’s Georgia national-procedure note, updated on 21 January 2025, identifies the Criminal Cases Chamber of Tbilisi City Court as the court that examines admissibility in the ordinary extradition procedure; the two published 2023 Supreme Court cases reviewed for this page also arose from Tbilisi City Court rulings. Article 34 itself uses the wording “relevant district (city) court”, so counsel should confirm the current filing assignment in the live case, but a Batumi arrest alone does not make Batumi City Court the ordinary admissibility forum. Georgia is party to the 1957 European Convention on Extradition and has reservations/declarations, including one concerning offences punishable by death in the requesting state; their detailed effect belongs in the challenge guide. See the Georgia extradition guide and the Georgia challenge guide.

Language, lawyer access and simplified consent

Proceedings are conducted in Georgian. Article 11 of the Criminal Procedure Code requires an interpreter for a participant who lacks adequate command of the language. Tell the prosecutor and court which language the person understands, and ask the registry how counsel can inspect the file and obtain copies.

Under Article 34¹(1¹), effective 1 October 2025, ongoing international-protection procedures are not taken into account after court consent in the simplified route; the Minister’s simplified decision then permits extradition under that rule. Ordinary cases need separate analysis. Two Supreme Court decisions—N2კ-36-I-23 (19 June 2023) and N2კ-5-I-23 (17 February 2023)—under the earlier legal framework allowed the admissibility stage to continue while a protection claim was pending but said actual surrender should wait until the protection issue was resolved. The current Law on International Protection, as amended by Law No. 1804 of 25 June 2026, sets a 10-calendar-day period to request protection after the prescribed information is received; certain refusals to accept an application and safe-third-country inadmissibility decisions do not prevent a final extradition decision or its enforcement. Article 66 protects an asylum seeker from extradition to the country of origin during the asylum procedure. Do not assume either that any pending claim automatically stops surrender or that the older cases alone resolve the issue: the application’s status, the requesting state and any applicable exception must be checked. Ask counsel and an interpreter to review the file before any consent or transfer decision. Refusal grounds are covered in the challenge guide.

Timing also matters. For the route in Article 34²(2)—where the person was arrested under Article 30(1)(b) or (c) and extradition detention was applied—the prosecutor must apply to schedule the consent hearing no earlier than 5 days and no later than 7 days after arrest; the judge must set it within 24 hours after the motion. Other fact patterns follow separate statutory timing rules. After consent, the prosecutor must apply for an admissibility decision within 15 days, and the court must decide within 24 hours after receiving the relevant material. Unless an applicable international or individual agreement sets another limit, the Minister of Justice’s decision must be communicated to the requesting state’s competent authority within 20 days after consent; transfer must occur within 10 days after that decision is communicated. The Minister’s simplified-procedure decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Where might the person be held?

Published Ministry of Internal Affairs regulations identify a Regional Temporary Detention Isolator of Adjara and Guria based in Batumi, with units listed in Kobuleti, Ozurgeti and Lanchkhuti. This confirms the published regional structure, not the actual location of a particular detainee or a guaranteed visit schedule. Ask the responsible authority or counsel to confirm the facility and current access rules, and keep a record of requests and replies.

What should the family or foreign lawyer prepare now?

• Full name, date of birth, citizenship, passport number and available identity documents.
• Arrest time/place, arresting agency, detention papers, case number, hearing notice and written ruling.
• Any lawfully received foreign request, warrant or Red Notice reference. A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant or extradition order.
• Contact details for Georgian and foreign counsel, family and the relevant consulate if assistance is requested.
• Medical records and medication needs, proof of residence, and documents about parallel Georgian proceedings or a sentence.
• All asylum/international-protection filings and decisions, with dates. A pending claim does not automatically pause every extradition step.
• Original documents and, where possible, Georgian translations; ask counsel which certifications are required.

A hypothetical Batumi Airport example

Hypothetical: a traveller is arrested after arriving at Batumi International Airport on a foreign alert. Counsel should identify the arresting agency and supervising prosecutor, calculate the 48-hour deadline, confirm the magistrate judge for the airport’s actual location, request the detention file and arrange an interpreter. If detention is ordered, the seven-day appeal period runs from service of the ruling. By contrast, if a person is arrested at Sarpi checkpoint, counsel should not assume Batumi City Court is the first-instance venue: Sarpi is in Khelvachauri Municipality, and the assigned court must be confirmed by the actual place of arrest. In either scenario, the initial restraint order, ordinary admissibility ruling and Minister of Justice’s surrender decision are separate steps.

What to confirm with counsel before the first hearing

Before the hearing, confirm the Article 30(1) basis, exact arrest time and 48-hour deadline, the court assigned to that place of arrest, the supervising prosecutor, interpreter and file access, the requested measure, and the seven-day appeal deadline measured from service. Ask the registry which appellate office accepts the appeal; for Batumi/Khelvachauri, the expected forum is Kutaisi Court of Appeals. Also ask where the ordinary Article 34 admissibility motion will be filed; the Council of Europe procedure note identifies Tbilisi City Court, but the actual case assignment should be checked. If another Georgian case or sentence is pending, ask counsel how it affects timing and transfer.

For a separate assessment of legal grounds to resist surrender, use the Georgia challenge guide. For the local procedure in the capital, see the Tbilisi City Court page.

For a consultation, prepare the arrest documents and deadline dates first. The site’s team coordinates cross-border defence with local counsel; you can send a consultation request.