Cape Verde’s active participation in the kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab is a shameful and cowardly act that must be denounced by all those who oppose the judicial overreach of the United States.
The sentiments were made by Mr. Saab’s defense team following his extradition to the US on Saturday, after being detained in Cape Verde for 16 months.
Shortly after 1700 Hrs GMT, Cape Verdean police officers entered the house where Special Envoy Saab was being detained and took him to Sal airport where he was handed over to US agents.
His defense team questioned why such action was taken being provided with prior notification and relevant documentation or resolution to that effect.
“The Cape Verde government did not wait for the deadline for the final decision, it did not wait for the case to go down to the Barlavento Court of Appeal and it did not wait for the Barlavento Court of Appeal to rule on the issue of Alex Saab’s health precluding extradition and on the dismissal of the money laundering allegations by the Geneva Public Prosecutor,” a statement by the lawyers seen by Nation Africa reads.
The lawyers further stated that by judgment number 47/2021, of October 13, the Constitutional Court dismissed the request for a declaration of nullity of judgment number 39/2021, of August 30.
Judgments handed down by the Constitutional Court, only become final when they are not subject to an appeal or claim, so the judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court on 13 October only becomes unappealable five working days after the date of its delivery.
“It is also incumbent upon the first instance court to issue the necessary dismissal warrants, without which the delivery of the extradited person to the requesting State is not possible,” the defense team said.
The team is furious that it has not been notified of any decision of the Barlavento Court of Appeal, which issued the original extradition decision, confirming that it could be executed and nor is the existence of such a decision mentioned in the letter from the Ministry of Justice.
“Since this Court should also, prior to delivery, have decided on the application submitted by Alex Saab, through which it was requested that the extradition be declared inadmissible, due to supervening facts, in particular, the violation of the right not to be tried twice on the same matter (“ne bis in idem”) enshrined in article 32, number 5, of the Constitution of the Republic of Cape Verde.”
For multiple reasons the lawyers said the surrender of Alex Saab to the United States on a date prior to the final and unappealable decision granting the extradition, without the case having been transferred to the lower court for a decision on the pending issues and for the issuance of the competent warrants of dismissal, constitutes flagrant illegality, and disregard for the rules of international law.
“Cape Verde has shown that for all its talk of being a bastion of democracy in Africa it is a nation which will bow to the political whims of a powerful ally no matter what the cost to its reputation is.”
Over the course of the past 16 months, the lawyers argued, Cape Verde has time and time showed that when it comes to dealing with Alex Saab it was willing to defy the binding decisions of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the United Nations Human Rights Committee and five other United Nations Special Rapporteurs and one UN Working Group.
That Cape Verde agreed to extradite a Special Envoy and Deputy Ambassador who is entitled to immunity and inviolability sets a very dangerous precedent, the defense team said, adding that “centuries of long-established customary international law have been brushed aside by the complicity of Cape Verde.”
Alex Saab and his defense team now hope that the US Court of Appeals of the 11th Circuit will recognize his entitlement to immunity and quash the politically motivated indictment that was issued against him in July 2019.