Dotcom v Minister of Justice - [2025] 3 NZLR 486

Judicial Review — Extradition Surrender Decision — Standard — Heightened scrutiny — Not Wednesbury unreasonableness.

Judicial Review — Decision not to prosecute — Judicial restraint required — Extant extradition request — Decision to prosecute without agreement of requesting state — Contrary to Treaty on Extradition between New Zealand and the United States of America 791 UNTS 253 — Extradition Act 1999.

Bill of Rights Act — Decision not to prosecute — Treatment — Not disproportionately severe — Entitled to consider obligations under Treaty on Extradition between New Zealand and the United States of America 791 UNTS 253 — Minister not second-guess Police decision — Reasonable basis for decision — Whether United States sentence disproportionately severe — Not failure to prosecute in New Zealand — Minister had necessary material for analysis — Whether disproportionately severe — Effective life sentence vs 12–15 years — High threshold — Complex assessment — Possible reduction — Considered relevant facts — Defensible conclusion — Not shock the conscience of properly informed New Zealanders — Not so excessive as to outrage standards of decency — Not amount to irreducible life sentence — Minister made no error — Extradition Act 1999 s 9.

Judicial Review — Impact of United States forfeiture regime — Reliance on public defender — Not suggest unfair trial — Matter for United States Court — No evidence of unfair trial — Delay not undue — Health issues not compelling or extraordinary — Surrender not unjust or oppressive — High bar.