The extradiction of a US prisoner for drug trafficking under the control of the ECtHR
JUDGMENT
López Elorza v. Spain 12.12.2017 (no. 30614/15)
SUMMARY
The extradiction a suspect for the drug trafficking offense. The risk of the applicant being sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of reviewing his sentence. No finding of inhuman or degrading treatment. Temporary suspension measure, until the decision of the ECtHR becomes irrevocable or up to a new decision.
PROVISION
Article 3
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Andrés López Elorza, is a Venezuelan and Colombian national who was born in 1982 in Venezuela and is currently in detention in Valdemoro Prison (Spain) pending extradition to the United States of America, where he will be prosecuted for drug trafficking.
The case concerned a complaint that extradition would put him at risk of being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, contrary to Article 3 of the Convention.
Mr López Elorza was arrested by the Spanish police in 2013 at the request of the United States, which had charged him in 2005 with two drugs offences, which each carried a possible sentence of life imprisonment. In March 2014 the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office agreed to his extradition, which was approved by the domestic court in October on condition that the US authorities provided a guarantee that any life sentence would not be irreducible.
Mr López Elorza appealed unsuccessfully and in February 2015 the domestic court accepted guarantees provided by the US authorities that he would be able to seek a review of any life sentence as adequate and authorised his extradition. Mr López Elorza lodged several further appeals, which were all rejected. In June 2015 he appealed to the Constitutional Court, which, however, ruled that his case and an application for interim measures to stay the extradition proceedings were inadmissible.
In July 2015 Mr López Elorza made a request for interim measures to the Court, asking that it indicate to the Spanish Government that it should stay the extradition proceedings pending the outcome of his case before the Court. The request was granted until August the same year and the Court put questions to the Government about whether he risked a life sentence in the United States that precluded early release or release on parole and about the concrete mechanisms under US law to have any sentence reviewed.
The Government replied in July 2015, including a document prepared by the US Department of Justice. The document explained why the US authorities were seeking Mr López Elorza’s extradition and laid out the sentencing procedures and possible penalties he might face. It concluded by saying that Mr López Elorza was unlikely to face the maximum sentence, however, if such a penalty was imposed there were a number of ways to have the sentence quashed, reduced or to obtain early release.
On 31 July 2015 the Court extended the interim measure and requested that the Spanish Government stay Mr López Elorza’s extradition while it considered his case.
Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Mr López Elorza complained that his extradition would expose him to treatment incompatible with the European Convention as it would put him at risk of being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT…
No violation of Article 3 – in the event of Mr López Elorza’s extradition to the United States
Interim measure (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) – not to extradite Mr López Elorza – still in force until the judgment becomes final or until further order (echrcaselaw.com editing).
