The Federal Supreme Court of Brazil has unanimously approved Albania’s request for the extradition of Ervin Mata. The decision was taken by the court’s first panel, in a virtual session held from August 14 to 21, 2026.
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In the 23-page ruling, the Brazilian court determines that the documentation submitted by Albanian authorities meets the legal conditions for extradition.
The request relates to criminal proceedings in Albania for charges including trafficking in narcotic substances, complicity in a special form, and participating in a structured criminal group.
The case file also includes data obtained from communications on the encrypted Sky ECC application. According to the material presented before the Brazilian court, in September 2020, the user with the identifier GS4TDD, identified as Ervin Luan Mata, is suspected of communicating about the transport of a quantity of approximately 250 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil to Frankfurt Airport in Germany.
In a communication from September 29, 2020, the file mentions that Mata was talking about the seizure of 240 units of goods in Frankfurt.
In another conversation, he states that “all my goods were seized in Frankfurt, at customs,” while the sending of money through other persons is also mentioned.
The Brazilian document also includes communications related to Albania and the Netherlands. In one of them, Mata says: “I only want money in Albania,” while in another he mentions the sum of one million in the Netherlands.
The file also includes communications with Eralbi Breçani. In an October 2020 conversation, Mata talks about “loads” and the possibility of ensuring “safe exits” for the goods.
But the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil imposes an important limitation: it has not judged whether Ervin Mata is guilty or not of the crimes attributed to him.
The court explains that, in extradition proceedings, its review is limited and does not include a retrial of the facts, authorship, or evidence of the criminal case.
According to the ruling, only a preliminary legal assessment is made to determine whether the conditions for extradition are met. The court finds that the principle of dual criminality exists, that the offenses are not time-barred, and that there is no legal obstacle to extradition.
Extradition has been approved as an investigative procedure, that is, to be subjected to criminal proceedings in Albania and not for the execution of a final conviction.
However, Ervin Mata is not automatically handed over to Albanian authorities. The ruling stipulates that surrender depends on the discretionary decision of the President of Brazil.
In addition, Albania must formalize the guarantees provided by Brazilian law, including that Mata will not be prosecuted for a prior fact different from the one for which extradition is sought, that the time spent in pre-trial detention in Brazil will be credited, and that he will not be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
The decision of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil is unanimous and dated August 24, 2026. The rapporteur of the case is Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Thus, the Brazilian court has paved the way for Ervin Mata’s extradition to Albania, but his physical surrender remains conditioned by the procedures set out in the ruling.
