The highest court of Czechia (Czech Republic) stayed the lower courts’ decisions which permitted the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta who the US department of justice indicted for allegedly plotting to kill Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the Indian Express said.
The Indian Express citing Czech officials said that there is no significant harm to public interest if this action is delayed.
Officials from the Prague Constitutional Court said that Gupta’s extradition to the US for criminal prosecution would lead to disproportionately greater harm to him than anyone else. The interim decision dated January 30, 2024 also said that the action would be irreversible even if it upheld Gupta’s challenge to the extradition order.
Spokesperson of the Czech Ministry of Justice, Markéta Andrová, while speaking to the newspaper explain that this decision bars the Czechia minister of justice from deciding whether Nikhil Gupta will be extradited or not, until the nation’s Constitutional Court decides on the merits of the complaint filed by him.
Gupta challenged the decisions of the Municipal Court in Prague (from Nov 2023) and the High Court in Prague (Jan 2024) on January 19. These courts rulings affirmed the admissibility of the US’s extradition request, ruling in favour of its acceptance.
Gupta’s lawyers have argued that the courts in question did not properly assess the political nature of the act alluding to the involvement of the state actors.
Lawyer Zuzana Cernecká is the lawyer representing Gupta. She is a member of the Krutina Muka law firm.
Pavel Dvorák, who heads the external relations and protocol department at the Czech Constitutional Court, told the newspaper that suspending the enforceability of contested decisions allows the court to familiarise itself with the case. He said that the measure is taken to proactively safeguard the fundamental rights of the complainant, preventing potential irreversible harm until a decision is made on the merits of the case.
The Ministry of Justice representative highlighted that there is no set timeframe for when the Constitutional Court will render its decision on the extradition’s merit.
According to Andrová, the duration of proceedings before the Constitutional Court in the Czech Republic can fluctuate based on the case’s complexity and the court’s workload. She emphasised that trying to figure out the duration of the process is challenging.
The US wants Gupta extradited as the US and Czechia have an extradition treaty. Nikhil Gupta was detained by Czech authorities at the request of the US government in June 2023. The US is accusing Gupta of attempting to hire a hitman to kill Gurpartwant Singh Pannun.
Gurpartwant Singh Pannun is a Khalistani separatist-terrorist who have been designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in India.
The US has claimed that it has shared information with the Indian government about the foiled assassination bid and has asked it to probe the alleged involvement of an Indian official in plotting Pannun’s murder.
The identity of the Indian official was not revealed and was referred to as CC1 but a report by a US newspaper alleged that a former intelligence officer hatched the plot to kill Pannun. The report was termed “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” by the external affairs ministry.
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