A post last month discussed the U.S. district court’s delay of proceedings regarding the proposed extradition of Inocente Orlando Montano, a former Salvadoran military officer, to Spain for trial for his alleged participation in the 1989 murders of Jesuit priests in El Salvador. The reason was the court’s desire for additional briefing on some of the issues.
Additional proceedings on the merits have been further delayed due to the poor health of the 75-year old Montano resulting in the court’s April 28 order to have him transferred to the Federal Medical Center at Butner, North Carolina for “acute care.” This was based upon his attorneys’ report that he was suffering from “numerous ailments beyond those associated with a man of his age. His bladder cancer left him dependent on a colostomy bag. He remains susceptible to a re-occurrence of a C-Diff infection which is difficult to diagnose and treat. During the nearly four years of his incarceration – 21 months for the immigration conviction and 2 years during these extradition proceedings – he developed Type II diabetes. He also increasingly suffers from arthritis in his legs and cannot move without a walker.”[1]
In the meantime the U.S. submitted a brief addressing whether the U.S.-Spain extradition treaty’s requirement for “dual criminality” was satisfied and whether U.S. due process requirements would be met by an extradition of Montano.[2]
Dual Criminality Requirement Was Met
The U.S. asserted that this requirement meant that “the acts or conduct underlying the [Spanish] charges would be proscribed by similar criminal provisions under either U.S. federal law, the law of the state where the [extradition] hearing is held, or the law of a preponderance of the states.” (P. 23)
Here, according to the U.S. brief, the Spanish charges were under its terrorist murder statute, and while a U.S. federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 2332), as the Magistrate Judge found, was not identical, “the primary distinction is one of scope, not character.” Indeed, “the basic evil proscribed by both countries’ statutes is murder.” (Pp. 23-24)
Moreover, said the U.S. brief, “the murder of a U.S. citizen abroad under circumstances similar to those” involved in the murder of the Jesuit priests who were Spanish citizens in El Salvador would be a crime under U.S. federal law. (P. 25)
Extradition Here Would Satisfy U.S. Due Process
The U.S. brief also asserted the validity of the Magistrate Judge’s conclusion that “it is well-established that Congress may criminalize extraterritorial conduct” and doing so when a U.S. citizen is murdered abroad is a valid exercise of that power and does not violate due process when anyone would know that murder is proscribed. “Protection of one’s citizens from murder [in another country] implicates a significant national interest, and enforcement of that interest is not arbitrary.” (Pp. 31-34)
Conclusion
Now we wait to see if Montano’s attorney responds to the government’s brief on the merits and whether Montano’s health will permit further proceedings.
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[1] Motion for Conditional Release During Pendency of Habeas Proceedings, Morales v. Elks, No. 5:16-HC-2066-BO (E.D.N.C. Apr. 7, 2017); Order, Morales v. Elks, No. 5:16-HC-2066-BO (E.D.N.C. Apr. 28, 2017).
[2] Amended Memorandum in Support of Motion To Dismiss Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Morales v. Elks, No. 5:16-HC-2066-BO (E.D.N.C. Apr. 17, 2017).