Updated: Friday July 31, 2015 at 8:18 p.m.
Not only has Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán managed to escape maximum security prison twice, he has also won a provisional suspension against potential U.S. extradition while on the run.
This week the Mexican Attorney General’s Office announced a Mexico City judge granted the security dependency an arrest warrant to extradite the fugitive drug lord. However, Chapo’s defense submitted an appeal and on Friday a Mexico City tribunal granted a provisional suspension of extradition processes, according to judiciary file 712/2015.
This means that if Chapo is recaptured under this provisional suspension, Mexico will not be able to process the drug lord’s extradition immediately and hand him over to U.S. authorities.
The U.S. formally requested Chapo’s extradition about two and a half weeks before the drug lord escaped on July 11 through a 1-mile underground tunnel connecting his prison cell to an outside warehouse.
Note: Chapo Guzmán has not won the appeal.