The Patras Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday afternoon (July 22) that James Dalamaga should not be extradited to Australia, following a marathon session lasting approximately eight to nine hours, putting a stop, at least at this stage, to the Australian authorities’ extradition request.

The 56-year-old Greek-Australian national was wanted in connection with the 1999 murder of a fellow Greek man in Sydney. He was arrested in June 2026 in Aigio, a town in the Achaea region of the northern Peloponnese, where he is said to have lived for years under a false identity. He was subsequently released on restrictive terms pending the Court of Appeals’ decision on the extradition request.

A key legal issue centred on the defence’s argument that the offence is barred by the statute of limitations under Greek law, whereas homicide carries no such time limit in Australia. This argument had been central to the proceedings from the outset, according to news outlet apohxos.gr.

With Wednesday’s ruling, the Patras Court of Appeals rejected the Australian authorities’ extradition request, marking a significant development in one of the most high-profile cases of international judicial cooperation in recent years.