The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing a judgment that it doesn’t find any violation on the extradition of a Chechen man from Azerbaijan to Russia.

Here is the decision:

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Release
ECHR 236 (2014)
31.07.2014

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

Tershiyev v. Azerbaijan (no. 10226/13)

The applicant, Ramazan Tershiyev, is a Russian national of Chechen ethnic origin who was born in 1961. The case concerned his threatened extradition to Russia.

Having arrived in Azerbaijan in 2009, he was convicted, in April 2011, of a number of serious offences committed in Azerbaijan, including the creation of an illegal organised armed unit and of a network of clandestine flats in Baku as temporary accommodation for members of illegal armed units in Chechnya. He was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment and is currently serving his sentence in Azerbaijan.

In September 2011 criminal proceedings were brought against Mr Tershiyev in Russia on suspicion of membership in an illegal armed unit operating in Chechnya. In 2012 he was formally charged. The Russian authorities issued an international search warrant in his respect. In November 2012 the Azerbaijani Deputy Prosecutor General granted a request by the Russian authorities and ordered Mr Tershiyev’s “temporary extradition” to Russia for three months for the purpose of carrying out the necessary steps in the criminal proceedings against him in Russia. His appeal against the extradition order was dismissed by the courts in Azerbaijan, which noted in particular that his
request for asylum with the Baku office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had been rejected. The courts did not take into consideration that his appeal against the UNHCR decision was pending. In February 2013 the European Court of Human Rights indicated to the Government of Azerbaijan, under Rule 39 of its Rules of Court (interim measures), that he should not be extradited to Russia for the duration of the proceedings before the Court.

Relying in substance on Article 3 (prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment) and on Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in conjunction with Article 3, Mr Tershiyev complained that his extradition to Russia would expose him to a real risk of being tortured and that he had not had an effective remedy in Azerbaijan to challenge the extradition decision.

No violation of Article 3 in the event of the applicant’s extradition to Russia
Violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 3

Interim measure: (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) – not to extradite the applicant – still in force until judgment becomes final or until further decision by the Court

Just satisfaction: The Court held that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant.