Italian Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione italiana), No. 53741/2019, 19 December 2016

Extradition. Risk of political persecution. Prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment. 

Art. 3 Italian Constitution
Art. 3 ECHR 
Art. 698 Italian Code of Criminal Procedure
Art. 705 Italian Code of Criminal Procedure

1. A citizen from Ukraine asked the Court of Cassation to annul the decision of the Court of Appeal of Trento which ordered his extradition to Ukraine to enforce sanctions imposed for the crime of corruption. This person held that conviction was persecutory and merely grounded on the fact that, in the past, he had been the President of the Central Anti-Corruption Committee. For this reason, he had also faced prosecution which forced him to leave Ukraine. 

2. According to the Court of Cassation, there is a risk that the individual in question is subjected to persecution and inhumane and degrading treatment in the country of destination, due to his precedent activity as a human rights activitst and against corruption. 

3. Moreover, in Ukraine, as witnessed by several reports of international bodies as well as by the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, detention conditions themselves amount to inhumane and degrading treatment.