EncroChat: Swiss Supreme Court declines alleged operator’s extradition appeal
On 7 March 2025 the Federal Supreme Court declined a Canadian suspect’s appeal against extradition to France. It found that he had not demonstrated an exceptionally important case meeting the statutory threshold for this appeal.
France requested the arrest and extradition of A., anonymised in the judgment, on 5 July 2024. French authorities alleged that he and others had operated EncroChat from at least 2014 until 14 June 2020, knowing that the phones were used chiefly for illegal activities. He was arrested in the Swiss canton of Zug on 9 July 2024.
The Federal Office of Justice authorised extradition on 25 September 2024. The Federal Criminal Court rejected his challenge on 11 February 2025 in RR.2024.121. The Federal Supreme Court held the subsequent appeal inadmissible in 1C_126/2025: extensive media coverage did not make it an exceptionally important case in the statutory sense.
The suspect argued that France had used a cyber weapon to access his EncroChat phone in Switzerland. The court found that he had supplied no concrete supporting indications. It said objections about checking the evidence chain and the validity of the French arrest warrant could be raised before the trial court.
His reliance on private and family life likewise established no exceptional circumstances preventing extradition. The court also found no reason in the alleged French detention conditions to depart from normal extradition practice. It ordered him to pay 2,000 Swiss francs in court costs.
