Extradition Lawyer in Lisbon: Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa and the Local Procedure

Which Lisbon court and prosecutor deal with the case?

Article 49 of Lei n.º 144/99 makes the relevant court of appeal competent for conventional extradition if the person lived or was found in its territory when the request was made. The Lisbon judicial map covers Lisboa, Lisboa Norte, Lisboa Oeste, Açores and Madeira, including Sintra, Cascais and Loures. This includes people on the islands; it does not mean every airport arrest automatically fixes ultimate territorial competence. For an EAW, Article 15 of Lei n.º 65/2003 looks instead first to domicile, and without domicile to where the person was located when the warrant was issued. Ask counsel to check these different dates.

Lisbon has criminal sections 3, 5, 9 and 11. A case is assigned through formal distribution; the family cannot select the panel or judge. The court is at Rua do Arsenal, Letra G, 1100-038 Lisboa, as is the regional prosecutorial service, contact mp.lisboa.tr@tribunais.org.pt. Ordinary electronic distribution is published for 11:00 on working days, with urgent distribution permitted; 11:00 is not a promised hearing time. The Ministério Público attached to this court pursues local proceedings, distinct from the Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR), the central authority for conventional requests.

At Humberto Delgado Airport: who receives the detainee?

The airport spans the municipalities of Lisbon and Loures. The operator publishes the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP) border-control contact sopdsa.lisboa@psp.pt in arrivals. If someone loses contact during travel, first determine whether there was an arrest on a criminal cooperation request, an immigration measure or an ordinary border check. Ask for the time, unit, police report, requesting country and prosecutor notified, rather than infer details from the flight route.

Under Articles 39 and 64 of Lei 144/99, certain foreign alerts may justify police action, followed by presentation to the Ministério Público attached to the court of appeal in the area of arrest for judicial assessment. An INTERPOL Red Notice is not a Portuguese surrender order. The urgent detention authority and the court ultimately hearing the formal request should be checked separately; an EAW and the EU–UK process follow different instruments.

The first 72 hours are an action plan, not a legal deadline

The hearing also deals with consent to transfer and possible waiver of the speciality rule, which normally limits prosecution for other earlier offences after transfer. They are separate decisions, not mere scheduling choices. An EAW detainee unfamiliar with Portuguese receives a free interpreter under Article 17; traditional proceedings also require defence assistance and interpretation where needed. Do not sign without understanding both consequences.

Which deadline runs after the first hearing?

For conventional extradition, Articles 46 and 48–50 of Lei 144/99 provide a preliminary ministerial admissibility stage before the Lisbon court's judicial examination. Under Article 55, written opposition is due eight days after the extradition hearing. A final decision may be appealed within 10 days to the criminal section of the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) under Articles 49 and 58, with the filing trigger calculated from the applicable notification rules. Appeal against a judgment granting extradition has suspensive effect; appeal, habeas-type detention review and constitutional remedies are not interchangeable.

For provisional detention before a full request, Article 38(5) sets 18 days from detention, extendable to 40 days for justified reasons. Article 64(3) has distinct conditions for an arrest initiated on police information: release after 18 days absent the foreign state's response or after 40 days absent the formal request following a positive response. Once the case proceeds, Article 52 generally allows 65 days from detention for the Relação decision and a possible additional 25 days under its stated conditions. Article 63(4) alters the 65-day starting point in certain advance-detention files. Do not add these periods together as a single ceiling.

For an EAW, Article 24 permits appeal of specified custody or final decisions within five days of notification, or from an oral decision recorded in the minutes. Article 26 sets decision targets of 10 days from consent or 60 days after arrest, with a possible 30-day extension; Article 30 separately addresses detention limits, including 60 days without the first Relação decision and 90 days when an appeal is lodged. The UK is not an EU EAW issuer after Brexit; surrender under the EU–UK treaty is implemented through Articles 78-A–78-G of Lei 144/99, with relevant EAW provisions applied by reference. Check the applicable treaty and Portuguese reservations rather than treating every non-EU request alike. For nationwide rules and challenges see extradition from Portugal and grounds for opposing extradition.

What do Lisbon extradition judgments mean after appeal?

Lisbon Relação 1317/24.4YRLSB-5, 11 July 2024: a foreign request concerned imprisonment with forced labour, but the Minister's admissibility decision addressed only imprisonment. The court annulled the judicial proceedings because the administrative decision had not approved the request as made. It did not declare that any minor clerical mismatch automatically prevents extradition. Compare the request, foreign judgment, ministerial document and local court filing.

STJ 1170/26.3YRLSB.S1, 30 June 2026, arising from Lisbon's 5th criminal section: a Brazilian–Italian dual citizen facing Brazilian extradition argued that Italy had insufficient time to consider issuing an EAW. Applying CJEU Petruhhin C-182/15 and BY C-398/19, the STJ treated 20 May to 11 June as reasonable on those facts and dismissed the appeal. The EU nationality state must receive adequate information and a reasonable opportunity; an EU passport is not an automatic veto. Provide proof of every nationality and the real chronology of notices.

The Lisbon Relação initially authorised surrender to the UK in case 370/26.0YRLSB-5 (10 March 2026), applying Portugal's revised nationality notification published on 2 December 2025 and effective on 1 January 2026. Crucially, that order was overturned in the same case by the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, 370/26.0YRLSB.S1 (9 April 2026). Applying Article 5(2)(a) of the Portuguese Criminal Procedure Code, the STJ held that the international warrant's issue date—17 November 2023, rather than the arrest in January 2026—controlled which nationality notification applied. For this Portuguese national sought for a homicide not classified as terrorism or organised crime, applying the broader 2026 notification retrospectively would worsen his position; the STJ refused surrender under the earlier notification. The new rules are not a universal refusal ground. Give counsel both judgments, the warrant issue date, proof of nationality, the alleged offence and any return assurances; distinguish EU–UK treaty surrender from an EU-issued EAW.

Two additional Lisbon-originating rulings limit broad defence assumptions. In Lisbon Relação 318/26.2YRLSB-5 (10 March 2026) the court held that the applicable Portuguese-speaking countries' extradition convention (CPLP) governs its own refusal grounds; the Portuguese domestic family-hardship clause cannot simply be imported, and the court does not retry the foreign accusation. In STJ 1294/26.7YRLSB.S1 (26 August 2026) the Supreme Court rejected a challenge that the Lisbon extradition decision lacked sufficient reasons for its assessment of personal and family circumstances. Neither judgment abolishes fundamental-rights scrutiny: counsel must identify the applicable treaty, precise holding and evidence rather than promise an automatic family-life veto.

Where is the detainee, and can family visit?

Someone arrested at the airport is not necessarily at Estabelecimento Prisional de Lisboa. The prison service DGRSP publishes Rua Marquês de Fronteira 54, 1099-011 Lisboa, telephone +351 213 828 100, and visit schedules varying by wing, including the admissions area. First confirm the actual custody location, unit, authorisation and present visiting schedule. Ordinary family visits to police detention facilities are different and are normally unavailable; communication with counsel and family notification must be sought promptly. Request a duty lawyer even if a separate legal-aid application remains unresolved.

Documents to send a Lisbon defence lawyer

• Full name, date of birth, all citizenships, passports and residence details, sent only to verified recipients.
• Exact arrest time and place, terminal or police unit, police report, foreign request or INTERPOL reference.
• Lisbon Relação case number, assigned section and judge, prosecutor, defence counsel, next hearing and interpreter.
• Foreign judgment or warrant, usable translations, records of other proceedings and urgent medical or care needs.
• Whether consent, speciality waiver and opposition were discussed; ask counsel to calculate each clock's trigger.

Hypothetical: a Brazilian citizen with Italian citizenship is arrested by PSP at Humberto Delgado on a Brazilian request. Their family should identify ordinary extradition rather than an EU EAW, obtain the urgent hearing record and transmit Italian citizenship documents. Counsel can test the Italian-notification chronology using STJ 1170/26.3YRLSB.S1, without promising release. In Porto the competent court and prosecutor may be different; see the Porto guide. The site's team may coordinate with qualified local counsel through the consultation request; this page is not individual advice.