The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (LDH) welcome the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal on March 4, 2009 (Arrêt N° 2008/01045 du 04 mars 2009) not to extradite a Russian national of Chechen origin and asylum seeker in France to the Russian Federation, in view of the possibility of his being condemned to death.
FIDH and LDH are also pleased that the Court should have taken into consideration the arguments put forward by the defence in recognising "the risks that the extraditable person would be running in terms of justice and physical integrity" and in emphasising "his Chechen origin that would expose him to inhuman and degrading treatment if he were handed over to the Russian authorities".
Mr. A. Lepiev was arrested on February 21, 2008 at the aliens’ reception centre in Paris. The Russian Federation accuses him of having taken part in an armed attack against the Special Forces of the Ministry of the Interior ("OMON") in Dagestan in November 1998, and issued a warrant for his arrest in April 2006. The Russian Government requested his extradition from France on March 20, 2008.
In view of the situation in the Russian Federation, FIDH and LDH call on the French authorities to continue to abstain from extraditing to the Russian Federation citizens who run the risk of being tortured or condemned to death, by virtue of France’s international obligations, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
FIDH calls on the Russian authorities to comply with their international obligations, in particular:
* To adopt without delay legislation abolishing the death penalty;
* To guarantee the independence of the judicial system and the rights of the defence, in accordance with Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
* To introduce a more precise definition of torture in the Russian Criminal Code and a specific prohibition of its use, in accordance with Article 4 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
For more information on the practice of torture in Chechnya, see:
« La torture en Tchétchénie : la "normalisation" du cauchemar » (in French and Russian only) : http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article4134
For more information on the decline of democratic principles and
the Rule of Law in recent months, see:
« Russia, Winter 2008: Human Rights in a Deep Freeze »:
http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article6194
Press contact : Karine Appy + 33 1 43 55 14 12 / + 33 1 43 55 25 18