Antic against Serbia
The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: the Court) is on 30 May 2024. passed, and on June 20, 2024, announced the verdict in the case Antić against Serbia, number 41655/16.
It's a verdictpassed unanimouslyo three-member Board.
The case relates to the extradition of the applicant to the United States of America (hereinafter: USA) and the failure of the Republic of Serbia to comply with Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (proceeding according to a temporary measure determined by the Court). The applicant complained that he was extradited to the USA, where he was threatened with life imprisonment, despite the temporary measure of the Court ordering the Republic of Serbia not to extradite the applicant while the proceedings before the Court are ongoing. |
THE CIRCUMSTANCES CASES
On May 28, 2015, the applicant was accused of drug trafficking in the USA and Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest, after which he was deprived of his liberty in the Republic of Serbia on July 31, 2015, and detained.
On July 21, 2016, the applicant requested the Court to stop his extradition, given the risk of life imprisonment in the event of a conviction in the USA.
On July 22, 2016, the Court determined a temporary measure in this case and ordered the Government not to extradite the applicant to the USA while the proceedings before the Court continue. Despite the above, the applicant was extradited to the USA on July 25, 2016.
The applicant's attorney stated that, based on a plea agreement in the USA, the applicant was sentenced to 84 months in prison, and that in January 2022 he was released and deported to Canada (one of the applicant's two home countries, in addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Also, the applicant's attorney initially stated that he had no contact with him since 2019. However, after the Government's objection that in that case the petition should be removed from the Court's list of cases, the attorney claimed that since 2019 he had continued contact with the applicant via e-mail, which claim he did not support with evidence.
COMPLAINTS OF THE APPLICANT AND THE PROCEDURE BEFORE THE COURT
The applicant submitted a petition to the Court on July 21, 2016.
In the petition, the applicant complained about the violation of the prohibition of torture from Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter: the Convention) and the obstruction of the effective exercise of the right to individual petition from Article 34 of the Convention, because he was extradited to the USA despite the Court's order Government that this should not be done while the proceedings before the Court are ongoing.
THE DECISION THE COURT
- Article 3 of the Convention
Due to the lack of contact between the applicant and his attorney, the Court decided that further examination of the petition under Article 3 of the Convention was not justified, and based on Article 37, paragraph 1 of the Convention, deleted this part of the petition from its list of cases.
- Article 34 of the Convention
With regard to the complaint about the violation of Article 34 of the Convention, the Court found that the Republic of Serbia is responsible for not ensuring appropriate communication between state authorities, which led to non-compliance with the Court's temporary measure.
The Court rejected as unfounded the Government's argument that the applicant unjustifiably delayed his request to the Court for a temporary measure, and that the Republic of Serbia took all reasonable steps to act on it.
The Court concluded that there were no circumstances that would objectively make it impossible to comply with the appropriate measure determined by the Court on the basis of Rule 39 of the Court's Rules of Procedure, and that the Republic of Serbia's failure to act on a temporary measure constitutes a violation of Article 34 of the Convention.
FAIRLY SATISFACTION (Article 41 of the Convention)
The court awarded the applicant the amount of EUR 1,200.00 as compensation for non-material damage.