Time limits of a detention pending a request for extradition in the light of the ECtHR
JUDGMENT
Koshevoy v. Russia 13-06-2017 (no. 70440/10)
SUMMARY
Illegal detention pending deportation . Detention health problems. Infringement of Article 5 § 1 for unlawful detention.
PROVISION
Article 5 § 1
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Aleksandr Koshevoy, was born in 1946 in Kazakhstan and has been living in Moscow since 2001. The case concerned his detention pending extradition for nearly six months.
Mr Koshevoy was arrested in Moscow in September 2010 and placed in detention pending extradition on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the Kazakh authorities for abuse of office when he had worked in local government in Kazakhstan. His detention was extended in November and December 2010 and then in February 2011; it was chiefly justified by the fact that proceedings were pending concerning his Russian nationality and that a decision had to be taken by the General Prosecutor’s Office as to his extradition. He was released in early March 2011.
Mr Koshevoy suffers from serious heart and vascular illness and spent the major part of his detention in civilian and prison medical facilities. On 10 December 2010 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) granted a request for an interim measure (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court), indicating to the Russian Government that he should be examined immediately by an independent medical practitioner and, if necessary, transferred to an appropriate civilian or prison hospital. He was admitted four days later to a prison medical unit and then two weeks later to a civilian hospital.
He underwent a thorough examination by various doctors at these establishments, but both considered that his treatment in detention was adequate. Mr Koshevoy also lodged a claim following his release against the detention authorities for inadequate medical care, which was in the main dismissed.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Relying in particular on Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security), Mr Koshevoy alleged that his detention pending extradition had been unlawful and that the related proceedings had not been carried out diligently. Also relying on Article 34 (right of individual petition), he complained about the authorities’ failure to comply with the ECtHR interim measure.
Violation of Article 5 § 1 – on account of the unlawfulness of Mr Koshevoy’s detention from 25 September to 19 November 2010 No violation of Article 5 § 1 – in respect of Mr Koshevoy’s detention from 19 November 2010 to 3 March 2011
No violation of Article 34
Just satisfaction: EUR 7,500 (non-pecuniary damage)
