CASE OF I.U. v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Expulsion) (Conditional) (Uzbekistan)
Branko Lubarda;Dmitry Dedov;Helena Jäderblom
7. The applicant was born in 1988 in Margilan, Uzbekistan. He arrived in Russia on 2 October 2014. 8. On 5 September 2014 the applicant was charged in absentia with participation in the extremist religious movement Hizb ut-Tahrir al Islami and activities threatening the constitutional order. On the same day the authorities ordered his pre-trial detention and issued an international search and arrest warrant bearing his name. 9. On 24 December 2014 the applicant was arrested in Moscow. On 26 December 2014 the Cheremushkinskiy District Court of Moscow ordered and subsequently prolonged his detention. 10. On 22 January 2015 the applicant was further charged with organising a local branch of Hizb ut-Tahri al Islami in one of the regions of Uzbekistan. 11. On 23 January 2015 the Uzbek prosecution authorities requested the applicant’s extradition on the above charges. The request included assurances regarding the proper treatment of the applicant, which were formulated in standard terms. 12. On 21 May 2015 the applicant’s extradition in respect of certain charges was authorised by the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. 13. The applicant challenged this decision in the courts, arguing that he belonged to a vulnerable group and therefore faced a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 at the hands of the Uzbek authorities. 14. On 13 October 2015 his appeals were dismissed by a final decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Without reference to any relevant evidentiary material, the Supreme Court considered that the applicant’s claims were hypothetical and lacked specific indications regarding the level of risk, and observed that the situation in a requesting state might change over time. It also found that the assurances of the Uzbek authorities were satisfactory. 15. On 5 June 2015 the applicant lodged a request for refugee status, referring to persecution in Uzbekistan on religious grounds. 16. On 9 November 2015 his request was refused by a final administrative decision of the migration authorities. The applicant challenged this decision in the courts, referring inter alia to the risk of illtreatment. 17. On 18 May 2016 his appeals were dismissed by a decision of Moscow City Court. 18. On 25 December 2015 the Meshchanskiy District Court of Moscow ordered the applicant’s expulsion for violating the migration rules. The applicant’s appeal, which referred to the risk of ill-treatment, amongst other factors, was dismissed by the Moscow City Court on 24 February 2016. 19. On 16 February 2016 the applicant applied for temporary asylum. No information concerning the outcome of these proceedings was supplied by the parties.