China

In cases of extradition to the China, a concrete risk of exposure to inhuman or degrading treatment must be considered to exist (as held by the European Court of Human Rights in Liu v. Poland, 6 October 2022), in light of multiple reliable international sources reporting systematic human rights violations, the tolerated use of forms of torture, and the substantial impossibility for independent institutions and organizations to verify the actual conditions in detention facilities.

The case concerned a request by the People’s Republic of China for the extradition of QJ, a citizen of Saint Christopher and Nevis, for prosecution in China on allegations of large-scale embezzlement connected to his former position as chief financial officer of a state-owned company. The alleged conduct involved several transactions between 2008 and 2011, with an overall value of approximately 210 million yuan. The Swedish Supreme Court found that most of the alleged offences satisfied double criminality under Swedish law and that there was sufficient probable cause for the prosecution allegations. It also held, however, that extradition was barred on several human rights grounds. First, the Court found an impediment under Swedish extradition law because the requested person had been politically active in connection with demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and later in the Chinese democracy movement, and there was a risk that he would be persecuted on account of his political opinions. Secondly, the Court held that extradition to China would be incompatible with Articles 2, 3 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, the Court relied on the risk of the death penalty, the general and individual risk of torture or inhuman treatment, the lack of sufficient guarantees of an independent and fair trial, and the limited value of possible assurances in light of the structure and functioning of the Chinese criminal justice system. The Supreme Court therefore declared that there were legal impediments to extradition.