The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has notified that Azerbaijan should not extradite a Chechen asylum seeker to Russia for the duration of the proceedings before the Court.

Here is the press releases:

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Release
ECHR 336 (2013)
14.11.2013

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing the following judgements.

Chankayev v. Azerbaijan (application no. 56688/12)

The applicant, Gaji Chankayev, is a Chechen national who was born in 1967 and is currently detained in Baku. The case concerned the extradition of Mr Chankayev to Russia to serve a prison sentence imposed by the Russian courts. After fighting as a Chechen rebel in Russia, Mr Chankayev fled to Azerbaijan in 2002. He was convicted in 2006 for acts committed while in Azerbaijan, including founding an illegal armed group and illegal possession of firearms. Later that year he was temporarily extradited to Russia, in order to face charges for his activities as a Chechen rebel. He was convicted of a number of offences, including being a member of an armed group that fought against the Russian state, and sentenced to a total of six years in prison. He was then returned to Azerbaijan to serve the remainder of the sentence imposed by the Azerbaijani courts. In June 2012 the Russian authorities requested that Mr Chankayev be extradited in order to serve his Russian sentence, and this request was granted in August 2012. Mr Chankayev challenged the extradition, claiming that there was a real risk that he would be subjected to ill-treatment if extradited to Russia. However, he was unsuccessful in the Azerbaijan courts, and his final appeal was dismissed on 3 September 2012. The enforcement of his extradition was stayed following an interim measure granted by the European Court of Human Rights (under Rule 39 of its Rules of Court) indicating to
the Azerbaijan government that Mr Chankayev should not be extradited to Russia for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), Mr Chankayev complained that his extradition to Russia would put him at imminent risk of torture and that he had had no effective remedy to challenge his extradition in the Azerbaijani courts on this ground.

No violation of Article 3 – in the event of Mr Chankayev’s being extradited to Russia
Violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 3
Interim measure (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) – not to extradite Mr Chankayev – still in force until judgment becomes final or until further order.
Just satisfaction: The applicant did not submit a claim for just satisfaction.