Extradition Lawyer in Dusseldorf: OLG Düsseldorf and the Local Procedure

Does an arrest in Düsseldorf put the case before OLG Düsseldorf?

Sections 13 and 14 of Germany's Act on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Gesetz über die internationale Rechtshilfe in Strafsachen, IRG) ordinarily assign extradition decisions to the higher regional court (Oberlandesgericht, OLG) and its associated Generalstaatsanwaltschaft (public prosecution office at the OLG). Under §14(1), territorial competence usually follows the district where the person is apprehended for extradition; if there is no apprehension, it follows where the person is first located for the proceedings. The Düsseldorf OLG district covers six regional-court districts: Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Kleve, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and Wuppertal, a wider area than Düsseldorf city itself.

There is a statutory exception for connected cases. Under §14(2) IRG, where several people are sought in connection with the same act or the related offences specified in that provision, competence is assigned to the OLG first seized (or, before any OLG is seized, the associated prosecution office first involved). Do not infer jurisdiction only from a home address or airport. Ask defence counsel to check whether a connected extradition file exists and which authority has formally taken it up.

Which Düsseldorf institutions should the family identify?

These distinctions prevent a common practical mistake: calling the city prosecutor when the file is with the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft, or arriving at OLG Düsseldorf expecting to meet a person who is actually before an Amtsgericht or in a different detention facility. The precise prison, hearing court and available visiting channel must be verified for the named person.

The first 72 hours: an action plan, not a statutory 72-hour deadline

The following is a practical sequence; German law does not impose a single 72-hour deadline for a completed extradition decision. Under sections 21 and 22 IRG, a person apprehended under an extradition detention warrant or provisionally arrested must be brought before the judge of the nearest Amtsgericht without delay, no later than the day after arrest. The judge questions the person without delay after presentation, at the latest on the following day. This initial appearance and the later OLG assessment serve different purposes.

Arrest at Düsseldorf Airport adds an identification problem: the airport lists the Bundespolizei for passport and aviation-security questions and a separate state-police presence. The family should obtain the actual unit's name and custody reference, rather than assume that the airport's public information counter manages the criminal case. An arrest elsewhere within the six regional-court districts can still lead to OLG Düsseldorf, but the first local judge may be in that other town.

Who provides a lawyer and who decides detention objections?

Under §40 IRG, legal assistance is mandatory when the person is arrested. If no lawyer has been chosen, counsel must be appointed without delay; before an application under §29(1), the court responsible for the first presentation decides on appointment, and after that application the competent OLG does. Give counsel the exact arrest time, nationality, language understood, custody location and any information about a connected file.

When OLG Düsseldorf is competent, it decides objections to an extradition detention warrant or its execution under §23 IRG. It may suspend execution under §25 if less restrictive measures can adequately secure the purpose, and it reviews continued extradition detention every two months under §26. Neither the review interval nor the possibility of suspension is an automatic release entitlement; the specific grounds and post-decision remedies require case-specific advice under the nationwide rules.

What changes when the requesting country is an EU member?

At the first hearing, ask whether the papers are a European arrest warrant (EAW) from an EU Member State or a non-EU extradition request. Part Eight of the IRG contains a separate regime for surrender between EU Member States; requests from outside the EU require their own applicable treaty or other legal basis. An INTERPOL notice or foreign police alert is not itself the German court's final admissibility decision, and EAW procedures should not be assumed for a non-EU request. For the national procedure, see Germany's extradition guide; for refusal grounds and post-decision remedies, see how to challenge extradition from Germany.

Visiting someone at JVA Düsseldorf in Ratingen

First confirm the individual is held at this institution. If so, the prison's published visitor information requires an appointment in advance; the visiting office takes telephone appointment requests Tuesdays through Fridays, 08:00–12:00, and also publishes an email contact. Standard private visits are listed for Tuesdays through Fridays and Saturdays, with an ordinary visit duration of 60 minutes and a limit of four visitors, of whom at most two may be adults. A valid passport or identity card must be presented. The published rules set a monthly allowance of two 60-minute visits for remand and sentenced prisoners; the detainee may request two additional child-visit units, which require approval. Children need valid ID or a birth certificate; under-16s require a guardian or written consent plus an adult close relative, while 16–17-year-olds need a guardian or express written consent for an unaccompanied visit. Confirm all times and conditions before travel because the person could be transferred.

A particular local complication matters to foreign families: where a remand detainee is subject to a judicial Beschränkungsbeschluss (restrictions order), the JVA's instructions say the visitor must obtain the competent court's permission. For such monitored visits, German is required unless a court-sworn interpreter is present, and the family should clarify with the court who arranges and pays the interpreter. This is a condition of that kind of restricted visit, not a statement that all prison visits or all lawyer consultations must be conducted in German.

For lawyers and official visitors, the same JVA instructions require booking by 12:00 on the preceding day. A lawyer should confirm the applicable defence-visit arrangements separately and should not promise an immediate walk-in visit. It can be faster to obtain the detention order and court file reference before requesting an appointment. There is no basis to promise that someone arrested at Düsseldorf Airport will definitely be transferred to this particular facility.

The published visitor PDF describes private visits for sentenced and remand prisoners. Because arrangements for a person held in extradition detention may differ, ask the JVA and the authority handling the case to confirm that these rules apply to the individual before relying on them.

What the family or an overseas lawyer should send first

• Arrest details: date and exact time, airport or town, police service, present custody location and any record or file number.
• Identity: full legal name, birth date, all passports and nationalities; identify whether a German or another EU citizenship issue exists without assuming it decides the case.
• Request: name of issuing country, EAW or non-EU extradition request, copy of warrant or police notice, and the alleged offence.
• Immediate needs: language understood, medicine or urgent healthcare needs, existing legal representative, and contact details of one person authorised to coordinate.
• Local logistics: ask whether the hearing was at an Amtsgericht, which OLG docket now exists, whether the person is in JVA Düsseldorf or elsewhere, and whether any visit restrictions apply.

Hypothetical example: A traveller is detained at Düsseldorf Airport on a Belgian EAW. The first judicial presentation takes place before the nearest Amtsgericht; the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft prepares the case for the competent OLG. A relative who contacts the ordinary Düsseldorf prosecutor and turns up unannounced at JVA Düsseldorf may lose valuable time. A better first request is for the arresting unit's reference, the Amtsgericht hearing record, the extradition case number and confirmation of custody. Which detention argument succeeds, if any, depends on the actual file and the applicable later law.

For cross-border defence coordination, the site's team can coordinate with appropriately instructed local counsel; send a request through the request page.