Decision of the Court of Cassation, VI Criminal Section, No. 43170 of 17 July 2014

The Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in L’Aquila to extradite to Argentina Carlos Luis Malatto, an Argentine having also Italian nationality, who was accused of having committed murders, torture and abductions between 1975 and 1977, during the military dictatorship of Videla. The Appeal Court observed that said offenses are not, as ‘crimes against humanity’ under the Statute of the International Criminal Court, subjected to statutory limitations in the Italian legal order, by virtue of criminal code, or as an effect of customary norms of international law, to which Italian legislation conforms by virtue of Article 10 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court found, however, that the documents provided to Italian judges by Argentina did not prove the effective involvement of Mr Malatto in the commission of those crimes. The existence of serious elements for concluding that a person is guilty is a prerequisite for his or her extradition, despite such requirement is not provided for, expressly, by the Extradition Convention concluded between Italy and Argentina in 1957.