Scottish ministers have two months to make a decision on Nicholas Rossi extradition

Justice Secretary Angela Constance to have final say in case that made headlines around the world

Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi leaving Edinburgh Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Court after an extradition hearing. (Photo credit: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Scottish ministers have two months to make a decision in the Nicholas Rossi extradition case.

On Wednesday a sheriff ruled that the American fugitive accused of faking his own death can be extradited from Scotland to the USA, where he is wanted on rape charges.

Rossi claims he is in fact called Arthur Knight and says he is a victim of mistaken identity, in a case which has generated headlines across the world.

However the final decision on whether or not he is extradited lies with Justice Secretary Angela Constance.

She will have two months from the day the sheriff sends the case to Scottish ministers to hand out an extradition order.

From the day the case is sent to ministers, there is also a four week period in which Rossi can make representations.

Rossi appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court via videolink from the city’s Saughton Prison, where he sat slumped in his wheelchair with his face hidden.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen dismissed his claims he is a victim of mistaken identity and says he is in fact Rossi, who is wanted in the state of Utah on rape charges.

He said Rossi was “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative”, and concluded there was no legal barrier to extradition.

Authorities in the US say Rossi is known by several aliases, including Arthur Knight and Nicholas Alahverdian.

He was involved in local politics in his home state of Rhode Island and was a critic of the state’s child welfare system.

In December 2019 he told media in Rhode Island he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live - several news outlets then reported he had died in February 2020.

Two years later the 35-year-old was being treated for Covid-19 when he was arrested at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, as he is the subject of an Interpol wanted notice.

The case will now be sent to Scottish ministers, who will now consider whether or not to extradite him.