Extradition Lawyer in Cluj-Napoca: Curtea de Apel Cluj

If a person is found in Cluj-Napoca or within the territorial circuit of Curtea de Apel Cluj (Cluj Court of Appeal), that court and the prosecutor’s office attached to it are the local starting points for a third-country extradition case. Under Article 42 of Romanian Law no. 302/2004, one judge of the court’s criminal section handles the request. There is an important exception: where the same case concerns two or more people located in different court-of-appeal circuits, the Bucharest Court of Appeal is competent. Requests from EU Member States will normally follow the separate European Arrest Warrant (EAW) surrender procedure, subject to limited transitional exceptions.

Article 42(2)'s transfer to Bucharest is narrower than a mere multi-person investigation: the requesting state must seek extradition simultaneously for at least two people investigated in the same or connected criminal cases, located in different court-of-appeal circuits. In that situation, the Cluj prosecutor forwards the work to the Bucharest prosecutor after questioning the person; the Bucharest court may use videoconference for the hearing (Article 43(2)). Counsel should check the request and actual court listing before assuming that a hearing will take place in Cluj.

This page focuses on Cluj institutions, access and the first practical steps. The national procedure and treaty framework belong on Extradition from Romania; detailed refusal grounds and remedies belong on How to challenge extradition from Romania.

Which Cluj institutions handle the case?

Institution	Role and practical details
Curtea de Apel Cluj — Secția penală și de minori	Article 42 assigns ordinary extradition to the court of appeal in whose circuit the person was located. The court’s official address is Piața Ștefan cel Mare no. 1, Cluj-Napoca. Its room guide lists the criminal-section clerk’s office in room 152 on the first floor, the criminal hearing room in room 155 and the deliberation room in room 153. These are building directions, not a promise about the room assigned to a particular hearing; check the hearing notice or confirm with the registry.
Parchetul de pe lângă Curtea de Apel Cluj (prosecutor’s office attached to the court)	Articles 42–43 place this prosecutor’s office in the local extradition process. For a formal request, the prosecutor has 48 hours from receiving the request and its attachments to identify the person and communicate the contents of the papers. The prosecutor then refers the matter to the competent court without delay. Ask counsel or the responsible authority for the prosecutor’s file reference; the court and prosecutor perform different roles.
Court registry and criminal archive	The registry is listed on the ground floor in room 49; the criminal archive is in room 50. Published public hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00–13:00, subject to holidays and updated notices. The court’s published email instructions require applications and supporting documents sent by email to be in PDF format. Other attachment formats and cloud-storage links are not processed unless the court expressly asks for them. Do not assume an email preserves a legal deadline until counsel confirms that electronic filing is valid for the particular proceeding.
Cluj Airport Border Police and custody location	The Sectorul Poliției de Frontieră Aeroport Cluj-Napoca is the local Border Police unit responsible for border checks at the airport. It publishes its contact address as Str. Traian Vuia 149–151 and the email aero.cluj@mai.gov.ro. It may be involved when someone is stopped at the airport, but it does not decide extradition or EAW surrender. Romanian law provides for court-ordered provisional extradition arrest to be carried out in detention and arrest centres under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, except where the person is serving a sentence in a prison under the national prison administration. Public IPJ Cluj material confirms that the county inspectorate has a detention and arrest centre, but it does not prove that every person arrested on an international alert is held there. Confirm the actual place of custody with the responsible authority or lawyer before arranging a visit.

What happens in the first hours after an arrest in Cluj?

Record the exact time and place of the stop, the authority involved, the confirmed place of custody and any Romanian file number. Ask which legal instrument is being used. An INTERPOL Red Notice, a Schengen Information System (SIS) alert and a formal extradition request are not interchangeable, and the clock for one step may not start when the person was first stopped.

Stage	Rule and practical action
First 10 hours of extradition retention	Under Article 45, the person may be retained only after being heard in the presence of a lawyer. The criminal investigation body must present the person to the competent prosecutor within the first 10 hours after retention.
Maximum 24 hours of initial retention	Article 45 caps this initial extradition-retention measure at 24 hours. It is different from provisional arrest ordered by a court, so expiry of the 24-hour measure does not automatically end the extradition case or establish that the person will be released.
48 hours after receipt of a formal request	Article 43’s 48-hour period starts when the prosecutor receives the formal extradition request and attachments. It does not automatically run from the time of arrest. Ask whether a formal request has arrived or whether the authorities are acting on an emergency provisional-arrest request or an alert.
First extradition hearing	At the first hearing, Article 46 provides for a free interpreter and an ex officio lawyer if the person has not chosen counsel; the prosecutor must attend. Tell counsel promptly if the person does not understand the documents, has a medical need or cannot communicate effectively with the interpreter.
Written opposition and evidence	After the person has been heard and the file is made available to defence counsel, Article 49 allows eight days to file a reasoned written opposition. The witness list is limited to two. Evidence admitted by the court must be taken within a maximum of 15 days. The statutory opposition is limited to identity and whether the legal conditions for extradition are met; broader refusal arguments need to be assessed under the applicable law and treaty.
Continued court-ordered detention	Under Article 43, the court reviews whether provisional arrest remains necessary at intervals no longer than 30 days. The statutory total duration of provisional arrest through actual surrender is generally capped at 180 days. This is separate from the 24-hour initial retention measure and the 40-day emergency-arrest rule described below. If the person is already subject to a Romanian preventive-arrest or sentence-execution warrant for conduct committed in Romania, Article 43(8) provides that the extradition-arrest warrant takes effect only when that domestic warrant ceases. Under Article 43(7), the surrender-arrest measure normally ends if the requesting state does not collect the person within 30 days of the agreed handover date, subject to the force-majeure rule in Article 57(6).

The following first-72-hours checklist is a practical action plan, not a separate statutory deadline:

Confirm the route: Title II of Law no. 302/2004 governs ordinary extradition; Title III governs EAW surrender. Ask whether the immediate basis is a formal request, an emergency provisional-arrest request or an SIS/INTERPOL alert.
Arrange counsel and interpretation: help the person contact Romanian counsel and request an interpreter in a language they understand. Do not assume an English-language form is understood merely because it was handed over.
Confirm custody before visiting: do not assume the person is at a particular Cluj facility. Ask the responsible authority or lawyer to confirm the location and the current visiting and communication rules.
Preserve the record: keep copies of all papers, note the time each notice was given, and record the requesting state and issuing authority. Preserve medical information and evidence of a possible identity mismatch. Do not alter documents or contact witnesses in a way that could be viewed as interference.

Does an INTERPOL Red Notice automatically mean extradition?

No. Article 44 allows emergency provisional arrest before the full extradition request arrives. A Red Notice or INTERPOL diffusion can count as a request for provisional arrest only where the applicable treaty expressly provides for that effect or reciprocity exists. The statute also permits the measure without reciprocity where it is necessary to combat serious forms of crime. Article 44(3) excludes people covered by Article 19 from being arrested on the basis of a Red Notice or diffusion. The legal basis must therefore be checked; the alert itself is not a court decision on extradition and does not establish guilt.

The 40-day limit in Article 44 concerns emergency provisional arrest pending the formal request, unless the applicable treaty allows a longer period. It is not the overall detention limit for the whole case. Once the formal extradition process proceeds, the separate court-ordered rules in Article 43 apply, including periodic review and the general 180-day maximum through actual surrender. Do not infer either automatic release on day 40 or an automatic right to continued detention: the actual order, treaty and procedural stage matter.

For a request from another EU Member State, check whether an EAW or a qualifying SIS alert exists. Under Article 82, an SIS alert for arrest is equivalent to an EAW where the EU Framework Decision applies; outside that scope, it has the effect of a request for provisional arrest for extradition. Article 102 routes a qualifying SIS alert to the prosecutor’s office attached to the court of appeal in whose circuit the person was located. That is the Title III surrender route, not ordinary Title II extradition. Immigration removal or deportation is a separate procedure.

What are the deadlines and appeal routes?

At Curtea de Apel Cluj, counsel must distinguish a challenge to a provisional extradition-arrest order (Article 43(9): 48 hours from pronouncement) from a challenge to the extradition judgment (Article 52(8): five days from pronouncement, to the Criminal Section of the High Court of Cassation and Justice). A challenge to a judgment granting extradition suspends surrender, not the provisions maintaining provisional arrest. Obtain the exact order and pronouncement date immediately; filing a challenge does not itself secure release.

The EAW route has separate rules: under Article 110, certain orders identified in Articles 102 and 104(8)–(9) may be challenged within 24 hours of pronouncement, while a final surrender judgment may be challenged within five days. If the person consents to surrender, that judgment is final. Under Article 112, the ordinary final-decision period is 60 days from arrest, or 10 days after the hearing at which consent is given, with a justified postponement of 30 days possible. A consent decision and a waiver of the rule of speciality are not the same. For refusal grounds and further remedies, use the linked national challenge guide; a Cluj lawyer should check the exact decision and route at once.

What should family and foreign counsel prepare?

The person’s full name, date and place of birth, citizenship, passport details and spelling variants.
The exact arrest location and time, the authority involved, the confirmed custody location and any Romanian police, prosecutor or court reference.
Every document provided: notice of rights, retention or arrest order, EAW or SIS papers, Red Notice-related papers, foreign warrant or judgment, and any translations.
Secure contact details for Romanian counsel and counsel in the requesting state. Ask whether consular notification is wanted and applicable.
Urgent medical information and documents that may correct mistaken identity or discrepancies in the name, date of birth or passport details.
A short dated chronology separating what a family member saw directly from what they were told by others.

Use the official Cluj Court of Appeal case search where public information is available, but a missing online entry does not prove that no case exists. Before visiting, recheck the published registry and criminal-archive hours. For email filing, use PDF attachments and no external cloud links; counsel should confirm that email is an accepted filing method for the particular document and deadline.

The court's own Info Dosar service lets a family member search by Romanian file number, including associated or versioned cases. The address web.cacj@just.ro is for questions about that service, not court filings; the court lists ca-cluj-reg@just.ro for case documents. Its 2025 filing instructions require PDF files rather than cloud links, recommend sending email at least 24 hours before a scheduled hearing and ask that genuinely urgent messages carry ‘URGENT’ in the subject. The 24-hour recommendation is not a legal filing deadline or an extension of one; counsel must confirm valid and timely receipt.

Hypothetical example. A Georgian citizen is stopped at Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport after an alert linked to a non-EU state appears. Counsel should first establish whether the authorities are relying on Article 44 emergency provisional arrest or have received the formal extradition request, whether the treaty or reciprocity conditions are met, and whether the prosecutor’s office attached to Curtea de Apel Cluj has been notified. The airport Border Police unit may be part of the initial stop, but it does not decide extradition. The alert alone does not establish guilt or guarantee surrender.

Our team coordinates cross-border defence with local counsel. To discuss the circumstances and available documents, use the request page.

Questions families often ask

Can I visit the person at a Cluj detention centre?

First confirm the actual place of custody and its current visiting rules through the responsible authority or lawyer. Public material confirms that IPJ Cluj has a detention and arrest centre, but it does not show that every international-alert arrest is held there.

Is the first hearing always within 48 hours of arrest?

No. Article 43’s 48-hour period begins when the prosecutor receives the formal extradition request and attachments. Article 45 separately sets a 10-hour presentation-to-prosecutor rule and a maximum 24-hour initial retention period. Court-ordered detention and EAW deadlines are separate.

Can the Court of Appeal decide whether the foreign accusation is true?

No. Article 52(2) excludes review of the merits of the foreign prosecution or conviction. The court examines the legal conditions for extradition, not whether the person is guilty of the foreign offence.

Does a challenge automatically release the person?

No. An extradition challenge may suspend surrender but does not suspend the provisions maintaining provisional arrest. Under the EAW route, a challenge to surrender likewise does not itself suspend the detention order.

Sources and local information

Sources checked on 28 October 2026. Confirm the applicable treaty, custody location, case listing, current schedule and filing method for the individual matter.