Germany

The case concerned a Georgian extradition request for the execution of a final sentence imposed by the Tbilisi City Court for false testimony. The requested person, a Georgian national living in Germany, opposed extradition and relied in particular on the risk of ill-treatment in Georgian detention because of his pansexuality and his belonging to the LGBTQI+ community. After the Administrative Court of Berlin ordered Germany to recognise him as a refugee on that basis, the Berlin Public Prosecutor General requested that extradition be declared inadmissible. The Kammergericht Berlin held that the formal extradition requirements were met and that the offence was punishable under both Georgian and German law. However, extradition was barred because there were serious reasons to believe that, if surrendered, the requested person would face persecution or a worsening of his situation in detention due to his sexual orientation and membership of a particular social group. The Court noted that the refugee recognition decision was not formally binding in the extradition proceedings, but it strongly indicated a real risk of persecution. It also relied on country information concerning discrimination against LGBTQI+ persons in Georgia, including open and state-linked discrimination and insufficient protection against persecution. General diplomatic assurances of protection from violence and abuse were not sufficient to remove the individual risk. The Court therefore declared extradition inadmissible, lifted the extradition arrest warrant and related detention decisions, and ordered the State Treasury to bear the necessary expenses incurred by the requested person.