Re Bressano

• Jurisdicción: Argentina
• Fecha: 26 Marzo 1965
• Emisor: Federal Court of Appeals (Argentina)

Argentina, Cmara Federal de la Capital.

Re Bressano.

Extradition Political crimes Common crime connected with political offence Determinants of political offence Montevideo Convention on International Penal Law, 1889 (Article 23) Acts of international concern Whether political offences The law of Argentina.

The Facts.Peru requested the extradition of Hugo M. Bressano on charges of bank robbery and assault committed in the Miraflores branch of the Credit Bank of Peru. Uncertainty as to the exact date of commission of the alleged offences and the fact that the accused was an Argentine national were advanced unsuccessfully as arguments against extradition. The Court of first instance refused extradition on the ground that the offences constituted common crimes connected with a political offence and hence were not extraditable under Article 23 of the Montevideo Convention on International Penal Law, 1889,1 which governed this action as Peru had not ratified the Montevideo Convention on Extradition of 1933.2 On appeal to the Federal Court of the Capital (Buenos Aires),

Held: that extradition must be granted where the common crime element dominated over the political character of the offence charged. In the present case the offence was not political in the strict sense, and extradition should be granted.

After stating the facts, the Court said:

We cannot agree with the reasoning of the decision under appeal...