The extradition process to which the Mexican communicator and former diplomat is subject in Israel Andrés Isaac Roemer Slomianski It has not stopped, and is in the evaluation stage by the Jerusalem Regional Court of Justice, despite the war conflict that that nation maintains with the terrorist group Hamas.
Diplomatic sources from the Israeli government specified HIGH LEVEL that the former official is still deprived of his liberty and waiting for his legal situation to be resolved, after being arrested because Mexico demands him for extradition, as he is accused of being allegedly responsible for several sexual abuses.
Roemer was arrested in Israel 46 days ago, at the request of our country, after having lost an injunction with which he intended to cancel the arrest warrants against him, granted by judges in Mexico City since 2021.
These arrest warrants had already been sent to Israel with the request that the communicator be extradited to Mexico, where he is accused of two crimes of rape, to which are added at least 61 testimonies from the same number of women who have declared having been sexually assaulted by the former diplomat.
The main complainant is a Mexican classical dancer who has publicly identified Roemer as her aggressor. Is about Itzel Schnaas, who in 2020 accused the communicator of sexual abuse.
In contrast, the 60-year-old extraditable today considers that he has not had the opportunity to exercise his right to an adequate defense in the courts and tribunals of our country, which is why – through his defense on Mexican soil – he has promoted around of 30 amparos, all without success.
Process that is appealable
According to Israel’s Extradition Law, which can be applied even though Mexico does not have a Treaty on this matter with that country, The extradition process begins with the request of the requesting nation so that the fugitive person, accused or convicted of a crime, be arrested on Israeli soil.
After arrest, the accused must appear before a court of first instance within 48 hours, while the formal request for extradition must be delivered by the Embassy of the requesting country to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In this last document, which must be translated into Hebrew, some of the evidence that indicates the alleged responsibility of the accused must also be sent. Subsequently, the Israeli Foreign Ministry transferred the extradition request to the Ministry of Justice, whose owner today is the lawyer Yariv Levin.
It is this institution that in turn presents the documents received to a Court, to determine whether there is sufficient admissible evidence to justify extradition. If the jurisdictional determination is affirmative, the Minister of Justice can still deny the sending of the extraditable to the country that requests it.
In the case of Andrés Roemer, his extradition is in the analysis stage by the Jerusalem Regional Court of Justice, instance whose ruling can be appealed if it is positive for the sending of the communicator to Mexico.
In fact, if the appeal against what the Court determines does not agree with Roemer Slomianski, and with this the Minister of Justice grants the extradition, this last opinion can also be challenged by the Mexican.
Protection of Israelis
It should be noted that people with Israeli citizenship or residence cannot be extradited to any other nation, unless they have committed the crime for which they are required before having obtained the nationality that Israel grants to all Jews.
Furthermore, the crime for which a country requests the Israeli government to extradite a person must be serious. Likewise, the crime(s) for which the extraditable person is accused must also be contemplated in the criminal legislation of the Hebrew nation.
The protection that Israel grants to its citizens is very rigorous, so extradition processes are long, difficult and controversial, while anyone who is Jewish, regardless of where they were born, can obtain Israeli nationality, as presumably Roemer has done so, although he has never publicly mentioned that he has dual nationality.
Additionally, the Israeli Extradition Law establishes that the requesting country must make a preliminary commitment so that the extradited person can serve his sentence in an Israeli prison, in case he is convicted in the place where the crime occurred.
That is to say, although all the jurisdictional and administrative bodies of Israel endorse the sending of Andrés Roemer to Mexico, the transfer will not take place until the Mexican government accepts that the former diplomat can choose to serve his sentence in an Israeli prison, in case he in our country be found responsible for the sexual crimes for which he is accused.
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Surya Palacios Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal and human rights analysis. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.