Extradition Lawyer in Hamburg: Hanseatisches OLG Hamburg and the Local Procedure

Which Hamburg authority handles the case?

Under sections 13 and 14 of the German Act on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Gesetz über die internationale Rechtshilfe in Strafsachen, IRG), the Higher Regional Court makes the judicial decisions and territorial competence generally follows the district where the person is apprehended for extradition or first located. For Hamburg, these are the Hanseatisches OLG Hamburg and Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Hamburg. The case-specific senate allocation should be confirmed from the business-distribution plan rather than assumed.

What happens after an arrest at Hamburg Airport or elsewhere?

Sections 21 and 22 IRG require presentation to a judge of the nearest Amtsgericht without delay and no later than the day after arrest. The judge must interview the person promptly and no later than the following day, explain the rights to counsel and silence, and ask about objections to arrest, the warrant or extradition. Representation is mandatory after arrest under section 40 IRG.

A Hamburg-specific constitutional example is the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) order of 27 April 2021, 2 BvR 156/21. It concerned a Latvian European Arrest Warrant; the BVerfG set aside the Hanseatisches OLG Hamburg’s admissibility decision because the likely detention conditions had not been investigated with sufficient specificity. A later BVerfG decision of 5 August 2026, 2 BvR 364/26 (OLG München), also set aside an EAW admissibility ruling: where current evidence indicated systemic detention deficiencies, a general assurance did not adequately resolve concerns about the likely prison and conditions. Neither decision creates an automatic refusal rule; both show why current, person-specific evidence and scrutiny of any assurance’s reliability matter. Hypothetical: if a Georgian national is stopped at Hamburg Airport after an alert, counsel should first identify the legal instrument and then raise any identity or detention objection through the correct procedure.

Where may the person be held, and how can family find them?

Do not assume that every extradition detainee in Hamburg is held at one named facility. Section 27(2) IRG gives the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft at the OLG the choice of institution, and the official Hamburg sources reviewed do not designate one facility for every case. Ask the appointed lawyer or responsible authority to confirm the actual location rather than relying on a general assumption.

The Generalstaatsanwaltschaft says information about investigations and enforcement is generally not provided by telephone and warns against sending important legal communications to its general email address. Its published opening hours are Monday–Friday, 09:00–13:00; electronic legal submissions must use the designated mailbox and satisfy formal requirements. The OLG lists visitor hours Monday–Friday, 08:00–18:00, and filing hours Monday–Thursday, 09:00–15:00, Friday 09:00–14:00. A night letterbox for time-preserving pleadings is at the joint filing office, Sievekingplatz 1. Ordinary email to the OLG is not a valid way to file a pleading.

What should be prepared before the first hearing?

• Passport, identity card, residence permit and proof of name, date of birth and nationality.
• Arrest record, extradition or European Arrest Warrant, Red Notice or other alert details, and all papers from police or court.
• Any foreign warrant, indictment, judgment or sentence, with original language and translations identified.
• Proof of address, family ties, work or study, health needs, and facts supporting less restrictive detention measures.
• For a claimed risk of ill-treatment or an unfair process, current evidence tied to the person’s likely circumstances, plus any protection decision, parallel case, prior surrender or speciality issue and foreign-counsel contacts.

The legal route matters. A European Arrest Warrant issued by an EU Member State uses the EU surrender framework; a request from a non-EU state ordinarily follows extradition law and the treaty relations applicable to that state. For a non-EU request, counsel must check the treaty basis and any reservations for the specific state.

For the national process, see Extradition from Germany. Refusal grounds and remedies belong in the separate guide to stopping extradition from Germany. An EU surrender case follows the European Arrest Warrant procedure; provisional arrest before the full request arrives is covered in the guide to provisional arrest.

How are detention and its continuation reviewed?

Under sections 15–17 IRG, the OLG issues a written extradition detention warrant; detention requires statutory grounds such as risk of absconding or, on specific facts, obstruction, and is unavailable if extradition appears impermissible from the outset. Section 16 governs provisional extradition detention before a formal request arrives. The warrant must be lifted if the person has been held for extradition for a total of two months from apprehension or provisional arrest without the extradition request and supporting documents reaching the authority designated by section 74 IRG or another authority competent to receive them; the period is three months if a non-European state requested provisional extradition detention. This is not a maximum duration for the whole case. An EAW follows a separate statutory procedure; see the dedicated EAW guide. Under section 26, the OLG reviews continued detention every two months from apprehension, provisional arrest or the last continuation decision, and may set a shorter interval. Objections to the detention warrant or its execution are decided by the OLG under section 23. Section 25 allows suspension if less intrusive measures suffice. Counsel should offer a workable address, reliable contacts and realistic conditions. No single overall statutory deadline applies to every Hamburg case.

Can the Hanseatisches OLG Hamburg decision be appealed?

Under section 13(1) IRG, an OLG decision is not subject to an ordinary appeal; section 42 is a limited legal-question referral, not an individual second-instance appeal. A constitutional complaint is exceptional, generally subject to a one-month filing-and-reasoning period under section 93 BVerfGG, and does not automatically suspend surrender, so urgent interim relief must be requested separately; see the separate guide linked above for the remedy route and deadline checks.

What can family do today?

• Record the arrest time and place, passport name, nationality, case reference and arresting authority.
• Send counsel the arrest papers and notices showing when decisions were received; ask about the next appearance, detention location and review date.
• Collect foreign reports, medical records and court documents early because obtaining and translating them takes time.
• Do not agree to simplified surrender before counsel explains its effects. Consent to simplified surrender and a separate waiver of speciality safeguards are different choices; see the guide to the rule of speciality.
• Do not send urgent pleadings to a general email address or rely on a phone call as proof of filing.

Which issues belong in other guides?

This page covers Hamburg institutions, first appearance, detention review and filing. National treaty rules and refusal grounds belong in the linked guides. An INTERPOL Red Notice is not itself a German extradition decision; for the distinction between extradition and administrative removal or deportation, see the extradition-versus-deportation guide.

For a time-sensitive arrest, contact qualified German extradition counsel promptly. To send an enquiry to the site, use the secure request page and include the arrest location, date, requesting country and any court reference already known.