Panama Extradition Laws and Treaties: Process, Refusals, Specialty

Panama extradition laws rest on the country’s Constitution, its Judicial Code, and a mix of bilateral and multilateral treaties, and they produce a clear bottom line: Panama will surrender a foreign national for a serious crime that is punishable in both countries, but it will not extradite its own citizens, it will not extradite anyone for a political offense, and it will not send someone to face the death penalty.

Who Panama Will Not Extradite

Article 24 of Panama’s Constitution states that “the State may not extradite its nationals, nor may it extradite aliens, for political offenses.”¹ That single sentence sets two absolute limits.

The first is nationality. A Panamanian citizen cannot be handed over to any foreign country, regardless of the crime or the strength of the evidence. This is a constitutional right, not a discretionary call by prosecutors or the executive.

The second is the political offense bar. Panama’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuses extradition when it determines the person is being persecuted for political activity or that the request is politically motivated. There is one carve-out: kidnapping or killing a head of state or public official is never treated as a political crime.²

A third limit comes from Article 30, which abolishes the death penalty in Panama.¹ If the crime carries capital punishment in the requesting country, Panama refuses extradition unless that country formally commits to imposing a less severe penalty.²

Which Crimes Qualify for Extradition

Extradition from Panama requires dual criminality. The conduct has to be a crime under both Panama’s laws and the laws of the requesting country, and the punishment must involve deprivation of freedom in both legal systems.² An act that is illegal abroad but legal in Panama will not support a surrender. The offense also has to be serious enough to carry prison time rather than a fine.

Where a treaty applies, it narrows the field further. The main treaty between the United States and Panama was signed on May 25, 1904, and remains in force. It identifies 13 categories of extraditable offenses, including murder, arson, robbery, forgery, counterfeiting, embezzlement by public officers, fraud or breach of trust in a fiduciary capacity, perjury, kidnapping, piracy, and bribery.³ Participation in any of these is also extraditable, so long as the offense is a felony in the United States and carries imprisonment in Panama.

The treaty is more than a century old and does not name modern offenses like cybercrime or money laundering. In practice, prosecutors have fit newer conduct into the older categories of fraud and embezzlement.

When no treaty exists with a requesting country, Panama can still extradite on the basis of reciprocity. The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decides whether to surrender someone to a country that would do the same for Panama in a comparable case.²

The Other Grounds for Refusal

Beyond the constitutional bars, Panama’s Judicial Code lists several additional reasons a request will be denied.

Double jeopardy. If the person has already been judged in Panama for the same crime, extradition is refused.
Completed sentence, pardon, or amnesty. If the person has served the sentence, been pardoned, or received amnesty for the crime in either country, the request is denied.
Expired statute of limitations. If the criminal action or punishment has expired under the laws of either Panama or the requesting country, extradition is refused.
Risk of prosecution for other crimes. If the Ministry believes the person could end up tried for a different crime than the one named in the request, or tried before a special or ad hoc court, extradition is denied.
Pending proceedings in Panama. If the person is already facing charges or serving a sentence in Panama, surrender is postponed until that case ends.
Executive discretion. The Executive Branch keeps a final power to deny any request for “justified reasons.”²

What Happens When a Citizen Cannot Be Extradited

Refusing to extradite a Panamanian citizen does not end the matter. Panama follows the principle of “extradite or prosecute.” When a request is denied on nationality grounds, the Judicial Code directs Panama to try the person domestically, treating the alleged conduct as if it had been committed on Panamanian territory and relying on information supplied by the requesting country.² The same duty applies in certain other refusals, such as when Panamanian courts have jurisdiction over the offense.

How the Process Works

A foreign government begins the process by sending a formal extradition request to Panama’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, usually through diplomatic channels or a consular agent. The request must include the documentation listed in Article 2498 of the Judicial Code.²

The Ministry reviews the request against the applicable treaty or the requirements for reciprocity. If it finds the request valid, it issues a resolution and notifies the person sought. That person then has 15 days to file an objection with the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.²

An objection sends the matter to a hearing before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, where the person has the right to counsel and can argue that any of the grounds for refusal apply. The Court weighs dual criminality and the full set of statutory bars, then issues its ruling.

Interpol Red Notices and Provisional Arrest

Formal requests are not always how extradition cases start. People are sometimes flagged during routine immigration or passport checks through an Interpol Red Notice. Panamanian authorities verify the notice with national Interpol contacts, may detain the person temporarily, and notify prosecutors. The person must appear before a judge promptly, and the court decides whether continued detention is appropriate. A formal extradition request has to follow within the time limits set by the applicable treaty, and if it does not arrive in time, the person must be released.

The Rule of Specialty

When Panama does extradite someone, the receiving country is limited in what it can prosecute. Article VIII of the 1904 US-Panama treaty says a surrendered person cannot “be triable or tried or be punished for any crime or offense committed prior to his extradition, other than that for which he was delivered up, until he shall have had an opportunity of returning to the country from which he was surrendered.”³ This is the rule of specialty.

To add charges that were not in the original request, the receiving country has to submit a new request in the same form as the first, and the surrendering country decides whether to allow it.⁴ The protection ends once the extradited person has had an opportunity to leave the receiving country and has decided to stay.

How the Specialty Rule Played Out in the Martinelli Case

Former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli was extradited from the United States to Panama on four charges tied to alleged conduct between 2009 and 2014. A Panamanian court acquitted him in August 2019, an appellate court reversed and ordered a new trial, and he was acquitted again on the same four charges.⁴

In 2020, Panama brought two new money laundering charges against him for conduct that predated the extradition but was not part of the original request. He was convicted on one. The question of whether the rule of specialty had been violated reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The U.S. State Department argued that the rule no longer applied because Martinelli had been free to leave Panama after his acquittal and had chosen to stay.⁴ The specialty rule gives real protection, but where it ends is a fact-driven question.

1
Constitute Project. Panama 1972 (rev. 2004) Constitution
2
Organization of American States. Republic of Panama Description and General Explanation of the Extradition System
3
GovInfo. Treaty Between the United States and Panama for the Mutual Extradition of Criminals
4
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal v. Attorney General of the United States, et al.