INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: PRIVILEGE OR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT?

Ordinarily, once a person crosses a national border, representatives from the first country cannot pursue them. People seeking to evade arrest occasionally rely upon this loophole to cross into a different country. Extradition tries to counteract this tactic by establishing cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the first and second countries. This enables countries to apprehend fugitives and other wanted criminals in hiding that are involved in crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and kidnapping, provided they are hiding in a country with which the first country has an extradition treaty.

With 193 United Nations member countries in the world, there are bound to be countries that do not have an extradition treaty with another country. These countries often become havens for those sought by law enforcement officials. For example, the U.S. has no extradition treaty with Russia. This means that a person suspected of or convicted of a crime in the U.S. who sought refuge in Russia cannot be apprehended and forced to return to the U.S. for trial or punishment.

For example, Italian authorities arrested Artyom Uss on October 17, 2022, following a request from Washington that accused him of illegally selling U.S. technologies to Russian arms companies. Uss was one of five Russian Nationals arrested at Washington's request for "unlawful schemes to export powerful" U.S. military technology to Russia. Uss disappeared in late March, the day after an Italian court in the northern city of Milan approved his extradition to the United States. Likewise, John Mark Dougan is a U.S. citizen who left the USA and fled to Russia to evade a criminal investigation. In 2019, the New York Post described Dougan as an IT consultant and reported he had fled to Russia while under investigation. He freely left the United States and lives in the Russian Federation to this day.

Controversial film director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss authorities on a 31-year-old outstanding federal warrant related to illegal sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Mr. Polanski, who won an Academy Award for Best Director for 2002's “The Pianist,” had entered Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. It was there that Swiss authorities took Polanski, who had lived in France for decades in part to avoid extradition to the U.S. based on a 1978 arrest warrant. The warrant is connected to 1977 charges that Polanski had sex with the girl to whom he had given alcohol and sedatives. Through a plea agreement, Polanski saw the charges reduced from statutory rape to unlawful sex with a minor. Upon release, Polanski fled the U.S., first going to Britain, then to France, where he was a citizen. Because France has the right to refuse to extradite its citizens, Polanski has avoided extradition back to the U.S. for three decades.