Pannun killing ‘plot’: Top Czech court halts moves to extradite Nikhil Gupta to US

Markéta Andrová, spokesperson of the Czech Ministry of Justice, told The Indian Express that this interim decision means “the Minister of Justice cannot decide on extradition or refusal until the Constitutional Court decides on the merits of the complaint filed by Nikhil Gupta”.

On January 19, 2024, Gupta had challenged the decisions of the Municipal Court in Prague dated November 23, 2023, and the High Court in Prague dated January 8, 2024, both of which had ruled positively on the admissibility of the US’s request for his extradition.

Alluding to the involvement of state actors, Gupta’s lawyer is learnt to have argued that the Municipal Court and the High Court did not properly assess the political nature of the act.

Lawyer Zuzana Cernecká, replying on behalf of the law firm Krutina Muka representing Gupta in the Constitutional Court, refused to comment on the development, stating that she couldn’t do so without the client’s permission.

Pavel Dvorák, head of external relations and protocol department of the Czech Constitutional Court told The Indian Express in an emailed response: “Suspending the enforceability of the contested decisions means that the Constitutional Court needs to acquaint itself with the matter. It thus preventively protects the fundamental rights of the complainant whose rights might be irreversibly infringed upon, until it decides, as the case may be, on the merits.”

The Ministry of Justice representative also said there is no fixed timeframe by when the Constitutional Court will give its verdict on the merit of the extradition. “In the Czech Republic, the duration of a process before the Constitutional Court can vary depending on the complexity of the case and the workload of the court,” Andrová said, adding, “The length of the process is really hard to estimate.”

The US and Czech Republic have an extradition treaty under which the US wants Gupta — who allegedly acted at the behest of an Indian official in plotting the murder — extradited. Gupta was detained by Czech authorities, at the request of the US government, shortly after he arrived in Prague on June 30 last year. US prosecutors have charged Gupta with attempting to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, a US citizen designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in India. Gupta had alleged human rights violations by Czech authorities while in custody, one of the issues that the Constitutional Court will look into.

Last year, the US had shared information with the Indian government about the foiled assassination bid, also asking it to investigate the alleged involvement of the Indian official.

While the identity of the Indian official, referred to as CC1 in the indictment, was not revealed, a recent report by The Washington Post alleged that a former Indian intelligence officer plotted to kill Pannun on American soil. The Ministry of External Affairs had called the report “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.