Red Notice Removal — What Georgian Law Contributes
An INTERPOL Red Notice is an instrument of international search, and the procedure for its deletion is governed by INTERPOL's own Constitution and rules through the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files — an entirely non-Georgian procedure whose details are not reproduced on this page. What does Georgian law do? Two things: Article 6 of the Criminal Code determines whose surrender is impossible at all — a bar that also stops a Red-Notice-driven surrender request; and Article 47-2 regulates expulsion and entry ban — the real risk that a client with a Red Notice often actually faces. This page's task is to explain precisely these Georgian anchors.
From the very first day the case unfolds into three questions, each requiring separate analysis. First — the client's status in Georgia: citizenship or a foreign order, because for a citizen the gate of surrender is in principle closed and the case moves entirely to the argumentation of the international procedure. Second — the factual base on which the notice stands: the content of the accusation, the requesting state and the circumstances that activate the exclusions of Article 6. Third — the real level of expulsion risk: if the client is a foreigner and any process is being conducted against him in Georgia, the terms of Article 47-2 must be accounted for in advance.
Article 6 — the Bar That Stops Surrender
A Red Notice does not by itself mean surrender — surrender is governed by Georgian substantive law. Under the first part of Article 6, a citizen of Georgia and a stateless person with status in Georgia may not be extradited for prosecution or for serving a sentence unless an international treaty provides otherwise. Under the second part, a foreign citizen or a stateless person on Georgian territory may be surrendered only in accordance with an international treaty. The third part excludes surrender of a person granted asylum persecuted for political beliefs, of one whose act is not a crime under Georgian legislation, and where the requesting state prescribes the death penalty. So notwithstanding a Red Notice, the gate of surrender stands on these barriers.
Article 47-2 — the Real Risk: Expulsion
The real exposure of a Red-Notice client in Georgia is often expulsion rather than extradition. Under Article 47-2, expulsion and an entry ban mean securing the departure from Georgia, against his will, of a foreigner who has committed an act, and imposing an entry ban for a defined period; a foreigner is a person who is not a citizen of Georgia. The terms are these: for a less grave crime — 2 to 10 years; for a grave or especially grave crime — 5 to 20 years or indefinitely. The strategy must cover both risks together: establishing the surrender bar and assessing expulsion terms — separately, but under one plan — because the facts of one and the same case work in both directions, and a poorly planned step on one front damages the other.
The Deletion Procedure — a Non-Georgian Institution
An honest page shows the boundaries here too: the deletion of a Red Notice is INTERPOL's internal procedure — review by the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files, under INTERPOL's Constitution and rules. Georgian law does not regulate that procedure, and its details are not set out on this page. What Georgian law gives are the substantive arguments: the citizenship bar, the necessity of a treaty, and the exclusion points — the factual and legal anchors that become the basis of argumentation both at a Georgian hearing and in the international deletion procedure — which is why analysing Georgian law is not a rival of the deletion procedure but its component where the client touches Georgia's jurisdiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the most frequent questions in Red Notice cases.
May a Georgian citizen with a Red Notice be surrendered?
No — the Article 6 bar prohibits the extradition of a citizen save by treaty exception; a Red Notice does not lift this bar.
Who decides on deletion of a notice?
The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files — an internal procedure of the international organization, not an institution of Georgian law.
For how long may expulsion be imposed?
For a less grave crime — 2 to 10 years; for a grave or especially grave one — 5 to 20 years or indefinitely.
What arguments does the Georgian Code provide?
The citizenship bar, the necessity of a treaty, and the exclusion points — political persecution, dual criminality, the death penalty.
How We Help on Legal.ge
On Legal.ge you can contact an experienced criminal-law advocate who analyses a Red Notice case through the filter of Georgian law: establishes the surrender barriers, assesses the risk of expulsion, and prepares the legal argumentation for the procedures where these arguments are used. Fill in the request form on the site and get a qualified consultation on Legal.ge.