Constitutional Court, judgment no. 474/95, 17.08.1995

EXTRADITION | LIFE IMPRISONMENT | ABSTRACT PENALTY FRAMEWORK | HUMAN DIGNITY

 

Constitutional Court, judgment no. 474/95, 17.08.1995

 

JURISDICTION: Constitutional

CASE: 518/94

SUBJECT: Constitutional appeal

RAPPORTEUR: Luís Nunes de Almeida

RULING: Grants the appeal, holding unconstitutional the norm in Article 6(1)(e) of Decree-Law no. 43/91, of 22 January 1991, when interpreted as not prohibiting the extradition in cases where the imposition of a life sentence is legally possible albeit unlikely given the assurances provided by the requesting state. Orders that the appealed judgment be amended in accordance with the ruling on unconstitutionality.

DOMESTIC LAW:

Portuguese Constitution [Articles 29(5), 30(1), 33(3)]

Decree-Law no. 43/91, of 22 January 1991 (Article 6)

Law of 4 June 1884

Constitutional Court, judgment no. 60/95, 16.02.1995

Constitutional Court, judgment no. 417/95, 04.07.1995

INTERNATIONAL LAW:

European Convention on Extradition, 1957

FOREIGN LAW:

United States Code [Articles 841(a)(1), 846, 952, 963]

Extradition; life imprisonment; abstract penalty framework; human dignity; Brazilian citizen; United States of America; Brazil; drug trafficking; ne bis in idem; assurances of non-application of the abstract penalty framework in the instant case; principle of equality; principle of universality; assurances conveyed by the requesting state; unlikelihood of a life sentence; principle of assimilation of foreigners and stateless persons to Portuguese citizens; Portugal’s reservation to the European Convention on Extradition; repugnant to the legal conscience that shapes the Portuguese legal system; purpose of penalties; recovery and social reintegration of the offender; law of the requesting state

COMMENTS: Coming soon.

REFERENCES IN THE LITERATURE:

CANOTILHO, J.J. Gomes, “Anotação ao acórdão do TC 474/95” [Annotation to Constitutional Court judgment 474/95], Revista de Legislação e Jurisprudência, year 128, no. 3857, 1995.

CANOTILHO, J.J. Gomes, e MOREIRA, Vital, Constituição da República Portuguesa Anotada [Annotation to the Portuguese Constitution], vol. I, 4.ª ed. revista, Coimbra, Coimbra Editora, 2007.

MAC CRORIE, Benedita, “O recurso ao princípio da dignidade da pessoa humana na jurisprudência do Tribunal Constitucional” [The principle of human dignity in the case law of the Constitutional Court], in AAVV, Estudos em Comemoração do 10.º Aniversário da Licenciatura em Direito da Universidade do Minho, Coimbra, Almedina, 2003, pp. 151-174.

MIRANDA, Jorge, & MACHADO, Miguel Pedrosa, “O caso Varizo (extradição e «non bis in idem»” [The Varizo affair], Direito e Justiça, vol. IX, no. 1, 1995, pp. 226 e ss.

MIRANDA, Jorge, and MEDEIROS, Rui, Constituição Portuguesa Anotada [Annotation to the Portuguese Constitution], vol. I, 2nd ed., Coimbra, Wolters Kluwer/Coimbra Editora, 2010.

 

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