Re Aldana

• Jurisdicción: Guatemala
• Fecha: 09 Julio 1932
• Número de expediente: Case No. 159
• Emisor: Corte Suprema (Guatemala)

Guatemala, Supreme Court.

Case No. 159

In re Aldana.

Extradition — Extradition of Nationals — Carrying out of Foreign Sentence in Lieu of Extradition.

The Facts.—Aldana, a Guatemalan national, had been tried by a Honduran Court for negligent homicide, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. He escaped to Guatemala. Honduras thereupon requested his extradition. This was refused on the ground that he was a Guatemalan national.1 Upon submission to the Supreme Court,

Held: that he must serve, in the Central Prison of Guatemala, the sentence passed on him by the Honduran Court. “The provisions of the Penal Code of Guatemala are applicable to Guatemalans who have committed abroad any extraditable crime, provided that there has been a request to that effect by the government of the country in which the crime was committed (Penal Code, Article 6, No. 5). For this purpose, the law provides that when a Guatemalan has been sentenced by a foreign Court and has not undergone his punishment, the case may be re-opened. However, the present case comes under the exception established by Article 8, No. 3, of the Penal Code, seeing that Honduran law imposes a milder punishment for the crime of negligent homicide. … It is accordingly proper to apply the foreign law, without re-opening the proceedings (Penal Code, Article cited, and Article 7, No. 2).”

¹ Article 9 of the Guatemalan Penal Code provided as follows: “The extradition of a Guatemalan citizen shall not be granted to a foreign government.”