Belarus

The proceedings concerned a request by Belarus for the extradition of a person sought for prosecution, after the appellate court had overturned a first-instance finding that surrender was legally inadmissible. The Supreme Court held that extradition could not be permitted where the requesting State lacked courts meeting the requirements of independence and impartiality and where pre-trial detention imposed by a non-judicial authority was not subject to timely judicial review. It further relied on the broader, documented deterioration of the rule of law and human-rights protection in Belarus. The appellate decision was quashed and the extradition proceedings were discontinued because the mandatory human-rights bar to extradition was established.

The Belarusian authorities requested the extradition of a stateless person for prosecution for an alleged aggravated theft committed in Minsk. The appellant argued that the lower court had failed to consider his application for Russian citizenship, his family circumstances and his willingness to be prosecuted in Russia. The Supreme Court held that he had not acquired Russian citizenship, had not applied before the extradition review began, and had neither refugee status nor temporary asylum. It further found that double criminality was satisfied and that Belarus had provided adequate guarantees concerning speciality, defence rights, protection from ill-treatment and the absence of discriminatory or political persecution.

The prohibition on an Italian court issuing a decision favourable to extradition, where there is a risk that the requested person may suffer a violation of fundamental rights, arises not only from the legal framework of the requesting State, but also from the “factual conduct” of its authorities. This occurs where such authorities merely undertake to adopt the necessary initiatives to ensure detention conditions compatible with minimum standards of human dignity, without, however, concretely implementing adequate measures, despite their official awareness of the degraded state of the country’s prison facilities.