CASE OF EGAMBERDIYEV v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Expulsion) (Conditional) (Uzbekistan);Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1-f - Expulsion)
Dmitry Dedov;Erik Møse;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Julia Laffranque;Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Ksenija Turković
6. The applicant was born in 1975 in the Andijan Region of Uzbekistan. 7. The applicant first arrived in Russia in November 2008. In summer 2009 he applied for Russian nationality using a false name and a forged Kyrgyz passport. His application was granted on 16 March 2010. 8. On 31 July 2009 an investigator from the National Security Service of Uzbekistan issued a decision to charge the applicant with membership of the extremist organisation Nurchilar (also spelled Nurcilar) and possession and dissemination of extremist literature, offences under Articles 244-1(3) and 244-2(1) of the Uzbek Criminal Code. A search warrant was issued on the same date. On 5 August 2009 the Unus-Abad District Court ordered the applicant’s arrest. 9. On 22 February 2013 the applicant was arrested in Omsk and charged with using a false identity document to cross the Russian border. Once his real identity had been established, he was detained pending extradition proceedings. On 26 February 2013 the Isilkul Town Court of the Omsk Region imposed a custodial preventive measure, which was subsequently extended on 22 March and 22 April 2013 until 22 June 2013. 10. On 22 March 2013 the Russian Prosecutor General’s office received an extradition request from his Uzbek counterpart. The request stated that the applicant was wanted in Uzbekistan in connection with his membership of an extremist organisation, an offence under Article 244-1(1) of the Uzbek Criminal Code. 11. On 23 May 2013 the Isilkul town prosecutor lifted the custodial measure that had been imposed in the extradition proceedings. The extradition was adjourned until such time as the criminal proceedings against the applicant on the charge of using a false document had been completed. 12. As of the date of the applicant’s most recent submission of 6 March 2014, he was not aware of the outcome of the extradition proceedings. 13. On 23 May 2013, immediately after the applicant’s release from custody, the Isilkul Town Court heard an administrative case against him on the charge of illegal residence in Russia, an offence under Article 18.8 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The Town Court found the applicant guilty and sentenced him to a fine and administrative removal from Russia (“expulsion order”). Pending removal, he was to be held in the Centre for Social Adaptation for foreign nationals. 14. On 29 May 2013 the applicant asked the Court to apply interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to prevent his expulsion to Uzbekistan. The Court granted his request on 31 May 2013. 15. On 11 June 2013 the Omsk Regional Court summarily rejected the appeal against the Town Court’s expulsion order of 23 May 2013. 16. In the meantime, on 6 June 2013 an investigator with the border control department of the Federal Security Service for the Kurgan and Tyumen Regions had the applicant transferred from the Centre for Social Adaptation to the Kazanskoye police ward in the Tyumen Region pending the criminal proceedings against him on the charge of using a false passport. 17. On the following day the Kazanskiy District Court of the Tyumen Region issued a detention order against the applicant and he was placed in remand prison IZ-72/2 in the Tyumen Region. 18. On 17 September 2013 the Kazanskiy District Court found the applicant guilty of using two false passports and of illegally crossing the Russian border, and sentenced him to a fine. He was released in the courtroom. 19. On 27 March 2013, while in custody awaiting a decision on the extradition request, the applicant applied for refugee status in Russia, claiming that he feared persecution on account of his religious beliefs. 20. By a decision of 20 June 2013, the Omsk division of the Federal Migration Service (“the FMS”) refused the application, finding that the applicant had waited for about five years after his first entry to Russia before asking for asylum, that he had used false names and documents in order to stay in Russia, and that he had no credible claim of a risk of persecution. 21. The applicant lodged a hierarchical appeal, which was rejected by the central office of the FMS on 11 September 2013. The decision was notified to his lawyer by letter of 16 September 2013. 22. Unaware of the refusal, on 18 September 2013 the applicant went to the Omsk office of the FMS for a certificate of pending refugee-status proceedings, which would have allowed him to reside legally in Russia. He was arrested in the office and placed into custody pending expulsion under the expulsion order of 23 May 2013 (see paragraph 13 above). 23. On 22 January 2014 the Basmannyi District Court of Moscow rejected an appeal lodged by the applicant against the FMS’s decision of 11 September 2013. The District Court found that the applicant had failed to prove that he risked persecution in Uzbekistan. 24. An appeal against the District Court’s judgment is pending. The applicant is now in custody in the Omsk Centre for Social Adaptation.