Tadzhibayev v. Russia, No. 17724/14, ECtHR (First Section), 1 December 2015

Judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Serious risk of torture or ill-treatment in case of extradition of the applicant to the Requesting State. Diplomatic assurances. 

Art. 3 ECHR

Assurances provided by the authorities of the Requesting State are not in themselves sufficient to ensure adequate protection against the risk of ill-treatment. There is an obligation to examine whether assurances provide, in their practical application, a sufficient guarantee that the applicant will be protected against the risk of ill-treatment (case in which the Strasbourg Court considered not sufficient the assurances provided by the Kyrgyz authorities in order to protect the applicant, an ethnic Uzbek, from the risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in case of deportation to the requesting country).

In the reasoning for the decision, the Strasbourg Court specified that it has not been demonstrated that Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to guaranteeing access to the applicant by Russian diplomatic staff would lead to effective protection against proscribed ill treatment in practical terms, as it has not been shown that the aforementioned staff would be able to speak to the applicant without witnesses. In addition, their involvement was not supported by any practical mechanism setting out, for instance, a procedure by which the applicant could lodge complaints with them or for their unfettered access to detention facilities.