Euroopa Inimõiguste Kohus
07.07.1989
Facts
The applicant, Soering, was a German national detained in prison in England pending extradition to the US to face charges of murder committed in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1985. Since the death penalty had been abolished in the UK, but not in the US, the British Embassy requested the US authorities not to impose the death penalty in the applicants case. However, the authorities in Virginia informed the UK Government that they intended to seek the death penalty in Soerings case. In August 1988, the applicant was transferred to a prison hospital for suicide-risk prisoners. According to psychiatric evidence, the applicants dread of extreme physical violence and homosexual abuse from other inmates in death row in Virginia had a profound psychological effect on him.
Complaint
The case was brought before the Court by the European Commission of Human Rights, the Government of the United Kingdom, and the Government of Germany, to obtain a decision as to whether extradition of Soering to the US would constitute a violation of Article 3 (prohibition on torture), Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).
Courts ruling
The Court first explained that capital punishment is permitted under certain conditions by Article 2 of the Convention. However, the applicant suggested that not the death penalty itself, but the ""death row phenomenon"" violated the prohibition on torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, because of the delays in the appeal and review procedures following a death sentence, during which time he would be subject to increasing tension and psychological trauma, and the extreme conditions of detention on "death row", where he expects to be the victim of violence and sexual abuse because of his age, colour and nationality. The Court found that having regard to the very long period of time spent on death row in such extreme conditions, with the ever present and mounting anguish of awaiting execution of the death penalty, and to the personal circumstances of the applicant, especially his age and mental state at the time of the offence, the applicants extradition to the United States would be in violation of Article 3. The Court found no violations under other articles.